▪ I. lather, n.
(ˈlæðə(r), ˈlɑːðə(r))
Also 1 léaðor, 7 ladder, lavour.
[OE. léaðor str. neut. = ON. lauðr washing soda, foam (Sw. lodder soap):—OTeut. type *lauþro{supm}:—pre-Teut. *loutrom (= Gr. λοετρόν, λουτρόν bath, Irish loathar washing vessel), f. root *lou- to wash (= L. lavāre) + -tro- instrumental suffix.]
1. † a. (OE. only.) Washing soda. b. A froth or foam made by the agitation of a mixture of soap and water.
| c 1000 Sax. Leechd. III. 2 Leᵹe on clað gnid in wæter gnid swiðe þæt heo sy eall ᵹeleðred þweah mid þy leaðre þæt heafod ᵹelome. c 1050 Voc. in Wr.-Wülcker 455/8 Nitria, þæt is of leaðre. Ibid. 456/14 Nitrum, leaðor. 1583 Stubbes Anat. Abus. ii. (1882) 50 Then shall your mouth be bossed with the lather..(for they haue their sweete balles wherewith-all they vse to washe). 1669 W. Simpson Hydrol. Chym. 335, I ordered the maid to put some of the usual soap thereto..and it made a very good lather (as they call it). 1677 Compl. Servant Maid 64 Wash them very well in three Ladders. 1799 G. Smith Laboratory I. 392 Take scalding hot water, and..with Newcastle soap beat and work up a clear lather. 1815 Scott Let. to Dk. Buccleuch Dec. in Lockhart, It looked like a shaving-brush, and the goblet might be intended to make the lather. 1873 E. Smith Foods 279 Hard water..prevents the formation of a lather, until a large quantity of soap has been added. 1926 Fowler Mod. Eng. Usage 315/2 Though lah{p}dher is often heard, lather apparently does not belong to the class of words in which ah & ă are merely southern & northern variants (pass &c.). 1968 New Society 22 Aug. 266/1 Lather: non-U to rhyme with ‘father’ (invariable in television advertisements)/U to rhyme with ‘gather’. |
| fig. 1725 Bailey Erasm. Colloq. 570 Such as by the Lather of Tears, and Soap of Repentance..have washed away their Pollutions. 1940 L. MacNeice Last Ditch 10 The sky is a lather of stars. |
c. transf. Violent perspiration, esp. the frothy sweat of a horse.
| 1660 F. Brooke tr. Le Blanc's Trav. 143, I could not possibly bring forth a word..being all in a lavour with agony and distresse. 1828 in Webster. 1837 Mrs. Sherwood H. Milner iii. v, Miss Bell had already exercised her [a mare] so well, that, to use a jockey term, she was all in a lather. 1883 E. Pennell-Elmhirst Cream Leicestersh. 238 The mare..was covered with lather. |
d. transf. A state of agitation, anxiety, irritation, or the like, such as induces sweat. (Cf. quot. 1660 in sense c.)
| 1839 F. Trollope Fragment in Dom. Manners Amer. (ed. 5) 271 Don't be in a lather, father, before you are shaved. I'll do your job, I expect, if you won't be in such a tarnation fuss. 1892 Kipling Lett. of Travel (1920) 99 Forced inaction frets the man to a lather. 1931 V. Woolf Waves 273, I arrived all in a lather at her house..but did not marry her, being..unripe for that intensity. |
| 1945 E. S. Gardner Case of Gold-Digger's Purse (1949) v. 44 You're standing there in a lather of indecision. 1948 ‘J. Tey’ Franchise Affair xvi. 181, I suppose Christina is in the usual lather of sentiment? 1970 Daily Tel. 24 Sept. 4/8, I can't work myself up into a middle aged lather over long hair. |
2. The action of lathering or applying lather to.
| 1626 Middleton Women Beware W. ii. ii, She'd..sponge up herself, And give her neck three lathers. |
3. attrib. and Comb., as lather-bowl; lather-dried, lather-making adjs.; lather-boy, a boy employed in a barber's shop to lather the chins of customers.
| 1856 R. W. Procter Barber's Shop xxi. (1883) 216 A *lather bowl. |
| 1898 Daily News 9 Dec. 5/7 They were ‘*lather boys to a barber’. |
| 1852 R. S. Surtees Sponge's Sp. Tour (1893) 294 Reining in the now *lather-dried brown. |
| c 1611 Chapman Iliad xi. 370 His *lather-making jaws. |
▪ II. lather, v.
(ˈlæðə(r), ˈlɑːðə(r))
Forms: 1 (ᵹe)léðran, l{iacu}ðrian, 3 leþere, liðere, 5 lathere, 6– lather, 7 ladder, laver (in lavering ppl. adj.).
[OE. *l{iacu}eðran, léðran, corresponds to ON. l{obar}yðra:—OTeut. *lauþrjan, f. *lauþro{supm}: see lather n.1 From the 16th c. the word has been assimilated in form to the n.; cf. Icel. lauðra.]
1. a. trans. To cover with or as with a lather; to wash in or with a lather. Also fig.
| c 950 Lindisf. Gosp. John xi. 2 Maria uutudlice wæs ðio ᵹeðuoᵹ vel smiride vel leðrede ðone drihten mið smirinise. c 1000 Sax. Leechd. II. 124 Lyþre mid sapan. c 1000 [see lather n. 1 a]. 1654 Gayton Pleas. Notes ii. i. 33 Their Horses..by excessive heats, continuall evaporations, and sweats..were laundred and ladder'd. 1713 Addison Guardian No. 71 ¶4 He would rub and lather a man's head, till he had got out every thing that was in it. 1715 tr. Pancirollus' Rerum Mem. I. i. iv. 12 Cleaner and brighter, than if it had been..lather'd with a Wash-ball. 1748 Smollett Rod. Rand. viii. (1804) 36 He lathered my face. 1851 D. Jerrold St. Giles xxiii. 235 The self-same brush that had lathered the beard of that very vulgar man. 1862 Geo. Eliot Romola xvi, Nello skipped round him, lathered him, seized him by the nose, and scraped him. 1917 P. Gibbs Battles of Somme 171 The enemy was ‘lathering’ the field of observation with every kind of ‘crump’ and shell. |
| Proverb. 1860 Hughes Tom Brown at Oxf. xxiii, 'Twas waste of soap to lather an ass. |
† b. absol. or intr. Obs. rare.
| c 1430 Pilgr. Lyf Manhode i. lii. (1869) 32 And for that j kan so wel wasshe, so wel lathere..hath god maad me his chambrere. 1630 J. Taylor (Water P.) Praise Cleane Linnen Wks. ii. 169/1 For Laundresses are testy..When they are lathering in their bumble broth. |
† c. intr. in quasi-passive sense.
| 1691 Phil. Trans. XVII. 532 [They] put them over a Fire till they are more than Blood-warm; which will make them [skins] ladder and scour perfectly clean. |
2. intr. To become covered with foam; now chiefly of a horse.
| a 1225 Juliana 16 And beten hire swa luðere þat hire leofliche lich liðeri al oblode. [Similarly a 1225 Leg. Kath. 1554.] a 1225 St. Marher. 5 Hit brek oueral ant litherde o blode. c 1275 Lay. 7489 He swang in þan fihte þat he leþerede [c 1205 lauede] a swote. 1884 St. James's Gaz. 1 May 7/1 Harvester..lathered a good deal before being saddled. |
3. To produce and form a lather or froth. Said esp. of water when mixed with soap; also of soap.
| 1608 R. Armin Nest Ninn. (1842) 21 The trotting of this mule made the mingled confection lather. 1677 Plot Oxfordsh. 36 Water..such as..would lather well. 1715 Gay Ep. to Earl Burlington 106 Our shirts her busy fingers rub, While the sope lathers oer the foaming tub. 1789 G. White Selborne i. 3 A fine limpid water..but which does not lather well with soap. 1795 R. Kirwan Elem. Min. (ed. 2) I. 189 It [indurated lithomarga] does not lather, yet is detersive. |
4. trans. To spread on like lather.
| 1885 Manch. Exam. 10 Feb. 5/3 In other pictures coarse yellow paint appears to have been lathered on with a trowel. |
5. To beat, thrash. Also intr. with into. Also fig.
| 1797 Sporting Mag. X. 320 He was so well lathered that he was near his end. 1850 P. Crook War of Hats 54 The uxorious cleric too was..lathered with a cane. 1886 Maxwell Gray Silence Dean Maitland I. v. 129 He was a latherin' into Hotspur [a horse] like mad. |
Hence ˈlathered ppl. a., ˈlathering ppl. a. Also ˈlatherer.
| 1630 J. Taylor (Water P.) Praise Cleane Linnen Ded., Wks. ii. 164 Not doubting but the lathering suds of your lennitie will wash away all such faults. 1647 H. More Insomn. Philos. i. 178 Her curbed steeds foaming out lavering tarre. 1814 Southey Carmina Aulica Poet. Wks. III. 315 When at the looking-glass with lather'd chin..I sit. 1863 Geo. Eliot Romola xvi, The doctor had his lathered face turned towards the group. 1899 Westm. Gaz. 18 May 2/3 Boys employed as latherers in barbers' shops. |
▪ III. lather
obs. form of leather.