▪ I. lath, n.
(lɑːθ, læθ)
Forms: α. 1 lætt, (pl. lætta, latta), 5–8 latt, 6–7 latte, 5, 7–9 dial. lat; pl. 4–6 lattes, -is, 5 lattys, lates, latez, 6 layttes, 6– latts, 8– lats. β. 4–6 lathe, (4 laþþe, latthe), 6– lath.
[OE. lætt n. fem. (whence mod. dial. lat) corresponds to MDu. latte (Du. lat), HG. dial. latz, Da. (16th c.) latte, lætte, lecthe (now lægte, which is phonetically difficult). The ME. laþþe, from which the modern standard Eng. form descends, prob. represents an OE. *læþþ-, as this would correspond to the synonymous OHG. lat(t)a, ladda (MHG., mod.G. latte); but the mutual relation of the two types is obscure, and the occurrence of a geminated þ in OTeut. has no known parallel or explanation. Some scholars think that the substitution of þ for t was due to the influence of the synonymous (and perh. cognate) Welsh llath = Irish slat:—OCeltic *slattā. The Teut. word has passed into the Rom. langs. (cf. It. latta, Sp. lata, F. latte); it is usu. regarded as cogn. w. MHG. lade plank (mod.G. laden counter, shop).]
1. a. A thin narrow strip of wood used to form a groundwork upon which to fasten the slates or tiles of a roof or the plaster of a wall or ceiling, and in the construction of lattice or trellis work and Venetian blinds. double lath, single lath, pantile lath: see quots. 1825, 1842–59.
| α c 1000 ælfric Gloss. in Wr.-Wülcker 126 Asseres, lætta. c 1050 Suppl. ælfric's Gloss., ibid. 185 Asseres, latta, uel reafteres. 1361–2 Durham Acc. Rolls (Surtees) 385 Cum calce, lattes, et sclatstan. a 1400–50 Alexander 756* [He] stighillys hym in som stede, a stable by hym one, With lang lates of yren, þat he might lig in. c 1425 St. Mary of Oignies i. ii. in Anglia VIII. 136/1 She slepte but litil & þat vpon a fewe lattys. c 1450 St. Cuthbert (Surtees) 642 Be þe lattis it toke festnyng. 1483–4 in Swayne Churchw. Acc. Sarum (1896) 33 For v bondellez of latez. 1515–16 Durham Acc. Rolls (Surtees) 253 In le Storehouse..ccc layttes. 1578 Richmond. Wills (Surtees 1853) 282 Woodd and bords..with stangs, hots, and cares, and spelks, and latts, xxs. 1641 Best Farm. Bks. (Surtees) 148 They will sowe downe theire thatch in fower places..allsoe sowinge once aboute a latte, ever betwixt sparre and sparre. 1662 J. Davies tr. Olearius' Voy. Amb. 395 The houses of this Village were very wretched ones, as being built only with lats nail'd across, and plaister'd over with clay. 1674 Ray N.C. Words 29 A Lath is also called a Lat in the Northern Dialect. 1779 Mann in Phil. Trans. LXIX. 626 Latts..were nailed against each end. 1878 Cumbld. Gloss., Lat, lath..‘As thin as a lat’. 1886 S.W. Linc. Gloss., Lat, a lath. |
| β 1330 Kenfig Ord. in Gross Gild Merch. II. 134 Noe burgess shall buy..boards, lathes, tyles. c 1380 Wyclif Serm. Sel. Wks. II. 167 Bi þe laþþis þei senten him doun, wiþ his bed. 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xvii. clxvii. (1495) 711 The lathe is longe and somwhat brode and playne and thyn and is naylled thwart ouer to the rafterers and theron hangyth slattes, tyle and shyngles. 1523 Fitzherb. Husb. §15 They [harowe bulles]..haue shotes of wode put through theym lyke lathes. 1563 T. Hill Art Garden. (1593) 7 The Romans vsed to inclose and fence their gardens with stakes and laths. 1703 Moxon Mech. Exerc. 244 Laths..are made of heart of Oak, for outside Work..; and of Fir for inside Plastering. 1725 Bradley Fam. Dict. s.v., A Bundle of Laths is generally call'd a Hundred of Laths. 1825 J. Nicholson Operat. Mechanic 611 The single are the thinnest..those called lath and half, are supposed to be one third thicker than the single; and the double laths are twice that thickness. 1842–59 Gwilt Archit. Gloss. s.v. Lath, Pantile laths are long square pieces of fir, on which the pantiles hang. 1866 Rogers Agric. & Prices I. xx. 487 Stout oak laths rent from heart timber. 1881 Young Every Man his own Mechanic §175 Specialities in Venetian blind laths. Ibid. §445 In planing..laths for trellis-work. |
b. collect. Laths as a material used in building (chiefly as a groundwork for a coating of plaster) to form a wall or partition. Freq. in
lath and plaster (often written with hyphens,
esp. when used
attrib. or quasi-adj.); rarely
lath and clay.
| 1573 Tusser Husb. xvii. (1878) 36 A frower of iron, for cleaning of lath. 1663 Gerbier Counsel 79 Ruff cast upon Lath..is worth eighteen pence the yard. 1715 Prior Down-Hall 152 A house should be built, or with brick, or with stone. Why 'tis plaster and lath. 1719 De Foe Crusoe ii. xiv. (1840) 285 It was..a house built, as we call it in England, with lath and plaster. 1765 Griffith in Phil. Trans. LV. 274 A lath and plaister wall. 1807 Crabbe Par. Reg. i. Wks. 1834 II. 150 A paltry screen Of paper'd lath. 1839 Carlyle Chartism viii. 158 Dons, Tons..not a few..of burnt brick, of timber, of lath-and-clay. 1859 Jephson Brittany xvi. 269 Buildings of lath and plaster. 1866 Rogers Agric. & Prices I. xx. 496 Lath-and-plaster work. |
c. lath and plaster: rhyming slang for ‘master’.
| 1857 ‘Ducange Anglicus’ Vulgar Tongue 11 Lath-and-plaster, master. |
2. a. In wider application: A thin, narrow, flat piece of wood used for any purpose. Also, as the material of a counterfeit weapon, as
bow,
sword of lath.
† dagger of lath: see
dagger 1 b.
| 1592 Shakes. Rom. & Jul. i. iv. 5 No Cupid..Bearing a Tartar's painted Bow of lath. 1616 Surfl. & Markh. Country Farm 35 Hee shall cut the roots of the Vines, and set square Laths or Props for the defending of them. 1658 A. Fox Wurtz' Surg. ii. xvii. 124 One lath or splinter will serve the turn here. And apply the lath either above or below the great sinew on the Arm. 1796 J. Owen Trav. Europe II. 504 An old woman..holding a lath lighted at one end. 1820 Scott Ivanhoe i, A sword of lath. |
b. transf., applied to what is slender or fragile.
| 1633 Quarles Prelim. Verses to Fletcher's Purple Isl., His ribs are laths, daub'd o're Plaister'd with flesh, and bloud. 1748 Smollett Rod. Rand. (1812) I. 59 You man of lath. 1799 F. Burney Lett to Dr. Burney, July, ‘You used to be as thin as Dr. Lind’, says the King. Lind was then in sight—a mere lath. 1814 Scott Ld. of Isles ii. i. Interl., Some phantom, fashionably thin, With limb of lath. 1922 A. Bennett Lilian ii. iii, The entire office, thanks to that lath, Millicent, was disorganised. |
c. Min. and
Petrol. A mineral crystal that is thin, narrow, and elongated.
| [1908 L. V. Pirsson Rocks & Rock Minerals iv. 36 In some rocks, such..as the syenites, which are mainly composed of feldspar..they have more or less perfectly the shape of flat tables or rude laths.] 1916 A. Johannsen tr. Weinschenk's Fund. Princ. Petrol. x. 199 In this [intersertal] texture the interstices between the feldspar laths are filled with glass. 1941 Proc. Prehist. Soc. VII. 65 The rock is a strongly ophitic dolerite with..plates of fresh augite and laths of plagioclase. 1959 W. W. Moorhouse Study of Rocks in Thin Section v. 160 Intersertal includes diabasic and ophitic textures, in which the feldspar laths are enclosed with large grains of pyroxene. |
3. The bending part of an arbalest or cross-bow.
| 1545 Rates Custom ho. a vii, Crosbowe lathes the pounde iiiid. 1685 Boyle Effects of Mot. viii. 91 When the Lath of a Cross-bow stands bent. |
4. attrib. and
Comb. a. simple attributive, as
lath-hammer,
lath-wood;
b. quasi-adj. (in sense of ‘made of a lath or of laths’), as
lath-house,
lath partition,
lath sword,
lath wall,
lath-work;
c. objective, as
lath-cleaver,
lath-cutting,
lath-maker,
lath-render,
lath-river,
lath-splitter,
lath-splitting;
d. parasynthetic and similative, as
lath-backed,
lath-legged,
lath-like,
lath-shaped adjs. e. Special combinations, as
lath-bedstead, a bedstead with laths to support the bedding;
lath-brick, a long narrow brick used for the floors of grain-kilns;
† lath-brod, ? a small lath-nail;
lath-coop,
-pot U.S. (see
quot. for
lath-pot). Also
lath-nail.
| 1676 Wycherley Pl. Dealer ii. i, Thou pitiful, paltry, *lath-back'd Fellow. 1830 R. B. Peake Crt. & City i. iii, Brother, observe his make—none of your lath-backed wishy-washy breed. |
| 1806 Med. Jrnl. XV. 11 A *lath bedstead. |
| 1677 Plot Oxfordsh. 251 *Lath-bricks..are put in the place of the Laths or Spars (supported by Pillars) in Oasts for drying mault. 1823 P. Nicholson Pract. Build. 587 Lath-bricks..used for drying malt upon. |
| 1536–7 Durham Acc. Rolls (Surtees) 698, 2000 *latbroddes ad 2s. 1d. 1620 Naworth Househ. Bks. (Surtees) 132, c. of late broades, iijd. |
| 1622 Canterb. Marriage Licences (MS.), Will'm Paine of the Citty of Cant. *latcleaver. 1825 J. Nicholson Operat. Mechanic 612 The lath-cleavers having cut their timber..cleave each piece with wedges. |
| 1887 *Lath-coop [see lath-pot below]. |
| 1827 Western Monthly Rev. I. 80 A *lath-cutting machine..cuts them with great rapidity. 1847 Rep. Comm. Patents 1846 (U.S.) 91 One patent has been granted for improvements in lath-cutting machines. |
| 1573 Tusser Husb. xvii. (1878) 37 A *lath hammer. 1901 J. Black Illustr. Carpenter & Builder Ser.: Home Handicrafts 35 The laths are nailed to each stud, or joist... For this purpose the best tool to employ is the..lath-hammer. 1964 J. S. Scott Dict. Building 188 Lath hammer.., a plasterer's hammer for nailing laths. |
| 1882 Garden 7 Jan. 1/2 Azaleas, &c. are kept under a *lath-house shelter through the summer months. |
| 1523 Fitzherb. Husb. §78 The .ix. propertyes of an asse..the syxte, to be *lathe-legged. |
| 1611 Cotgr., Tringle, a..*lath-like peece of wood. 1674 Moxon Tutor Astron. (ed. 3) 201 A sphear is complicated only of Lath-like Circles to represent each Orb. |
| 1530 Palsgr. 237/2 *Lathe maker, faisevr de lattes. 1533 MS. Acc. St. John's Hosp., Canterb., To the lathe maker..xvijd. 1607 Canterb. Marriage Licences (MS.), Abraham Garke of Marden, latmaker. |
| 1886 Ruskin Præterita I. 286 Separated only by a *lath partition. |
| 1887 G. B. Goode, etc. Fisheries of U.S. II. 666 The term *lath-pot is almost universally employed to designate the common forms of closed lobster traps,..providing they are constructed of laths or of any narrow strips of wood. Other names..are ‘box-traps’, ‘house-pots’, ‘stick-pots’, ‘lath-coops’. |
| 1688 Lond. Gaz. No. 2318/4 A Man..by Trade a Hoopshaver, or *Lathrender. |
| 1610 in Eng. Hist. Rev. (1898) XIII. 524 A *lath Ryver. 1876 Whitby Gloss., Lat-river, one who splits laths for the plasterers. |
| 1888 J. J. H. Teall Brit. Petrogr. 435 This [interstitial] substance occurs in irregular masses wedged in between the *lath-shaped felspathic constituent. 1973 Nature 9 Feb. 374/1 Lath-shaped crystals also occur and their size is about 0·15 × 0·05 mm2. |
| 1858 Simmonds Dict. Trade, *Lath-splitter. |
| 1882 Ogilvie, *Lath-splitting. |
| 1697 Dryden Virg. Georg. iv. 168 The God obscene, who frights away, With his *Lath Sword, the Thiefs and Birds of Prey. 1940 Blunden Poems 1930–40 250 While with a half-triumphant mind you crost Lath-swords of words on some uncertain matter. |
| 1756 R. Pococke Trav. (1889) II. 228 Outhouses..built..with what they call *lath walls. |
| 1641 Best Farm. Bks. (Surtees) 16 Ashen barres..very streight and riven very thinne allmost like unto *latte-wood. 1887 C. A. Moloney Forestry W. Afr. 3 Foreign and Colonial Timber used for..lath-wood, shingles for roofs, &c. |
| 1611 Cotgr., Latage,..*lath-worke. 1663 Gerbier Counsel 79 Ruff cast upon Lath-work, the owner finding all, is worth eight pence a yard. 1863 R. B. Peacock S. Lonsdale Dial. in Trans. Philol. Soc. 262 He's gloorin out a 't winda, èn shewin' hissel through 't lat-wark. |
▪ II. lath, v. (
lɑːθ,
læθ)
Also 6
lathe, 7–9
dial. lat.
[f. lath n.] trans. To cover or furnish (a wall or ceiling) with laths for plastering. Also with
over.
| c 1532 G. Du Wes Introd. Fr. in Palsgr. 949 To lathe with lathes, latter. 1575 Churchw. Acc. Stanford in Antiquary XVII. 171/1 It. for lathing & mending the churche howse mounds vd. 1600 Surflet Countrie Farme i. xviii. 113 [The feasant] house shall be..thicke latted and of clouen boardes. 1641 Best Farm. Bks. (Surtees) 148 After that an house is latted, the first thatch that is layd on woulde bee of rye-strawe. 1725 Bradley Fam. Dict. s.v. Walls, Walls..being quarter'd and lath'd between the Timber, or sometimes lathed all over, they are plaister'd with Lome. 1823 P. Nicholson Pract. Build. 110 When lathed over, the lath may be equally stiff to sustain the plaster. 1869 Daily News 10 Sept., The dining-rooms..in the sixteenth century were neither lathed nor plastered. 1886 S.W. Linc. Gloss., Latted, part., covered with laths: as ‘I'll have it studded and latted’. |
| absol. 1663 Gerbier Counsel 79 To Lath and lay with Lime and haire. 1703 Moxon Mech. Exerc. 250 A Budget..to put their Nails in when they Lath. |
Hence
lathed ppl. a. Also
ˈlather, one who fixes laths or makes lath-work.
| 1578 Banister Hist. Man v. 65 Like the plaster, or dawbe vnto the latted house. 1897 Daily News 8 Dec. 4/4 By employing lathers to do the lathing work instead of plasterers. |
▪ III. lath obs. form of
loath.