[Fr. l’anspessade erron. for lanspessade, lancespessade, ad. It. lancia spezzata broken lance; applied originally, it is said, to a cavalier, who, on his horse being killed under him, was made a petty officer in the foot. See Littré.]
1751. Chambers, Cycl., Anspessades or Lanspessades, a kind or inferior officers in the foot, below the corporals.
1800. Coleridge, Wallenstein, II. iii. note. Anspessade … a soldier inferior to a corporal but above the sentinels.
