▪ I. lathe, n.1
(leɪð)
[Late OE. lǽð str. neut., corresponding to ON. láð (poet.) landed possession, land:—OTeut. *lǣþo{supm}; according to some scholars cogn. w. -lǣđ- in Goth. un-lēds poor (? lit. without landed possessions), OE. un-lǽd(e wretched.
The form lathe (recorded from 14th c.) would, if it represented a pronunciation handed down by oral tradition, imply that the OE. word had a short vowel, and connexion with laðian, to summon, would then be possible. Probably, however, the word had little oral currency, so that its form may have been influenced by the spelling of early documents. The identity of the word with ON. láð (which involves the conclusion that the OE. form was lǽð) is rendered almost certain by the following facts. (1) The OE. word is in one instance recorded in the sense of the ON. word, viz., in the legal formula ‘ne ᵹyrne ic þines ne lǽðes ne landes ne sace ne sócne’ (Schmid, Gesetze der Angelsachsen, app. xi), where it has the same alliterative association as in the frequent ON. phrase ‘land ok láð’. (2) This alliterative association recurs in our first quotation, where the word has its specific Kentish application. (3) Our second quotation implies that ‘the lathe of Aylesford’ was the territory that was under a jurisdiction attached to the manor of Aylesford, so that the development of the special Kentish use from the general sense of ‘landed possession’ presents no difficulty.
The possibility is not excluded that the Kentish term may represent a coalescence of the original OE. lǽð, territory, with other words of similar form: cf. ON. leið fem. a court or judicial assembly, and OE. -lǽð or -lǽðe in mótlǽðu pl., attendances at a ‘moot’ or assembly (? related to ON. l{iacu}ða, OE. l{iacu}ðan, to go); also mod.Da. lægd ‘division of a parish for military purposes’ (f. root of lie, lay vbs.).
The latinized leidegrevei (see b) may, as is commonly assumed, represent an OE. *læðᵹeréfan ‘lathe-reeves’; but the text is of little authority.]
One of the administrative districts (most recently five in number) into which Kent was divided, each comprising several hundreds.
? a 1100 Charter in Birch Cart. Sax. III. 162 Seo duᵹuð folces on westan Cænt, þær þæt land and þæt læð to lið. c 1120 Rochester Bridge-bote Charter ibid. 659 Of æᵹles⁓forda & of ellan þam læþe þe þær to liþ. [Latin text: De æilesforda et de toto illo lesto quod ad illud manerium pertinet. (See last n.5)] c 1150 in Laws of Edw. Conf. c. 31 (interpolation) in Schmid Gesetze 508 note 5, In quibusdam vero provinciis Anglice vocantur leð [v.r. vocabatur led], quod isti dicunt tithinge [v.r. trihinge]. 1392–3 Rolls Parlt. III. 305/1 Certains Wapentakes, Hundredes, Rapes, Lathes, Baillies..& Villes, queux furent grant parcelle del Ferme des corps des Countees. 1545 Act 37 Hen. VIII, c. 25 §9 In every such Shire Riding Lathe Wapentake Rape Citie Towne Borough Isle. 1570–6 Lambarde Peramb. Kent (1826) 3 The whole Shyre hath long been divided into five partes communly called Lathes. 1670 Blount Law Dict., Lathe or Leth,..is a great part of a County, sometimes containing three or more Hundreds or Wapentakes; as it is used in Kent and Sussex. 1765 Blackstone Comm. I. 116 In some counties there is an intermediate division between the shire and the hundreds, as lathes in Kent, and rapes in Sussex. 1832 Act 2 & 3 Will. IV, c. 64 §9 Such Eastern Division shall include the whole of the respective lathes of St. Augustine and Shepway. 1875 Stubbs Const. Hist. I. v. 100 In Kent..the hundreds are arranged in Lathes or Lests. |
b. Comb.: † lathe reeve, the official charged with the administration of a lathe; † lathe silver (see quot. 1778).
c 1200 London interpolation in Leges Hen. I, c. 7 §2 (MS. c 1310) in Schmid Gesetze 440 note 4, Leidegrevei, vicarii. 1765 Blackstone Comm. I. 116 These had..their lathe⁓reeves and rape-reeves, acting in subordination to the shire⁓reeve. 1778 Hasted Kent I. 124 The chief-rent payable to the crown, called lath or tythe silver,..was 8s. as was returned by the survey taken in 1650. |
▪ II. lathe, n.2 Now only dial.
(leɪð)
Also 6 laythe, 6–7 lath, 7, 8 dial. leath, 9 dial. leathe, laith(e.
[a. ON. hlaða (Sw. lada, Da. lade), connected with hlaða lade v.]
A barn.
c 1250 Gen. & Ex. 2134 To maken laðes and gaderen coren. a 1300 Cursor M. 4681 (Gött.) Wid win and corn, fless and mele, And [? read þai] fild þe lathes here and þar. c 1384 Chaucer H. Fame iii. 1050 For alle mote oute other late or rathe, Alle the sheves in the lathe. c 1425 Voc. in Wr.-Wülcker 670 Hoc orreum, lathe. Hoc granarium, idem est. c 1450 St. Cuthbert (Surtees) 7643 He gart bigg thaim in house and lathe. c 1550 Plumpton Corr. (Camden) 257 They ar threshing in the one lath beanes and barley both. 1605 Camden Rem. 101 Lath, a Barne among them of Lincolnshire. 1781 J. Hutton Tour to Caves Gloss. 92 Leath, barn. 1847 E. Brontë Wuthering Heights I. ii. 16 ‘Goa rahnd by th' end ut' laith’. 1893 Peel Spen Valley 293 Garside's old laithe stood about where Mr. Dawson's shops now are. |
b. attrib., as lathe-door, lathe-yard.
c 1746 J. Collier (Tim Bobbin) View Lanc. Dial. Wks. (1862) 67 Just as i'r gett'n to th' Leath Dur. 1891 Atkinson Last of Giant Killers 214 The fowls of the lathe-yards even had not been spared. |
Add: [3.] lathe operator.
[1921 Dict. Occup. Terms (1927) §200 Turret *lathe operator; a turner..who sets-up and operates turret lathe.] 1974 Times 18 Feb. 14/7 We've got a nice job for you as a lathe operator. 1986 W. Gibson Winter Market in Burning Chrome 141 My father was an audio engineer...He was a lathe operator, basically. People brought him audio recordings and he burned their sounds into grooves on a disk of lacquer. |
▪ III. lathe, n.3
(leɪð)
Also 5, 7 lath.
[Of obscure history; prob. cognate with Da. lad, in drejelad turning-lathe, also in other compounds in which it has the general sense of ‘stand, supporting framework’, e.g. savelad saw-bench, sengelad bedstead, t{obar}ndelad gantry, væverlad loom. The Da. word is prob. a special use of lad pile, heap regularly built up:—ON. hlað, related to hlaða to lade.
If the coincidence in form and meaning with Da. lad be not purely accidental, the Eng. word must, not withstanding its late occurrence, have come down from the time of the Danish settlements in England. (A native OE. cognate is out of the question, as it would have had d, not ð.) The Da. word, in compounds, is cited by Kalkar from the 15–16th c.
As the older form of turning-lathe, used as late as the 19th century, was worked by means of a spring-lath overhead (see drawing in Encycl. Brit. ed. 9, XIV. 323), it is not wholly impossible that the word may be a modification of lath n.; but against this is the occurrence of the word in the wider Danish sense (see sense 1).
The ON. lauð (in Dicts. miswritten löð, and explained ‘smith's lathe’) is commonly given as the etymon, but erroneously. All that is known of the word is that it was used in composition to form poetic synonyms for gold.]
† 1. gen. A supporting structure, stand, scaffold.
1476 Record St. Mary's Ratcliffe in Antiq. Sarisb. (1771) 209 A new Sepulchre..with all the ordinance that longeth thereto; that is to say, A lath made of timber and iron work thereto; Item, thereto longeth Heven, made of timber..Item Hell made of timber and iron-work with Devils. |
2. spec. (More fully turning-lathe.) A machine for turning wood, metal, ivory, etc., in which the article to be turned is held in a horizontal position by means of adjustable centres and rotated against the tools with which it is cut to the required shape.
The lathe is used chiefly for turning circular and oval work, but it is also used for turning irregular forms and in engraving figure-work and geometrical designs on metal.
1611 [see lare2]. 1659 J. Leak Waterwks. 25 As in a Turners Lathe. 1678 Butler Hud. iii. ii. 376 Could turn his Word and Oath and Faith As many ways as in a Lath. 1753 Hogarth Anal. Beauty x. 58 A turner, in his lathe, might turn a much finer neck. 1812–16 J. Smith Panorama Sci. & Art I. 31 A file..to smooth wood or metal revolving in the lathe. 1875 Jowett Plato (ed. 2) III. 616 In the form of a globe, round as from a lathe. |
b. With qualifying words indicating: (a) the source of driving power, as engine-lathe, foot-lathe, hand-lathe, etc.; (b) a special form of construction, as centre-lathe, chuck-lathe, duplex-lathe, mandrel-lathe, pole-lathe, etc.; (c) the kind of work done with it, as chasing-lathe, fluting-lathe, oval-lathe, screw-cutting-lathe, etc.; for which see those words.
c. A machine for ‘throwing’ and turning potteryware, the article being placed upon a revolving horizontal disc. (More explicitly potter's lathe.)
1773 Encycl. Brit. III. 506/2 The wheel and lathe are the chief..instruments in pottery; the first for large works, and the last for small... The potter's lathe is also a kind of wheel, but more simple and slight than the former. 1839 Ure Dict. Arts 1012 In large potteries, the whole of the lathes, both for throwing and turning, are put in motion by a steam engine. |
3. attrib. and Comb., as lathe-chuck, lathe-drill, lathe-frame, lathe-mark, lathe-work; lathe-turned adj.; lathe-bearer, -carrier, -dog, various names for the appliance which connects the object to be turned with the centres of the lathe; lathe-bed, the lower framework of a lathe, having a slot from end to end in which one or both of the heads may be moved backwards or forwards; lathe-frame, the frame upon which the lathe stands; lathe-head, (a) the head-stock of a lathe; (b) ‘a small dental or laboratory lathe that may be fitted to a bench’ (Cent. Dict.); lathe-man (see quot.); lathe-treader, a man or boy employed to turn the potter's lathe.
1853 O. Byrne Handbk. Artisan 146 Sometimes..the grinder is laid upon the *lathe-bearers or other support. |
1849 Weale Dict. Terms 253/1 A long frame, called the *lathe⁓bed..is fixed at each end upon two short standards. 1879 Cassell's Techn. Educ. IV. 266/1 The slide-rest will..move along the lathe-bed. |
1873 J. Richards Wood-working Factories 160 The shear, or *lathe frame..can be made of wood. |
1893 Labour Commission Gloss., *Lath Men, brass⁓finishers employed solely in turning at the lathe and not engaged in fitting at the bench or vice. |
1868 G. Stephens Runic Mon. I. 287 On the battered and broken metal we can still see traces of the *lathe-mark. |
1865 E. Meteyard Life J. Wedgwood I. 338 This branch of the trade employed a skilled body of men..and the boys called *lathe-treaders who made the necessary movements for them. |
1868 G. Stephens Runic Mon. I. 286 ‘Barbarian’ work of this period was as often *lathe-turned as Roman. |
1875 Carpentry & Join. 146 For *lathe work I have pursued a different course. |
▪ IV. lathe, n.4
(leɪð)
In 7 lath, 7–8 leath.
[Cogn. w. Sw. lad, G. lade, of the same meaning; cf. prec. and lay n.]
The movable swing-frame or batten of a loom.
a 1633 Austin Medit. (1635) 281 At every change the Shittle flyes thorow and thorow it [the web]; and ever and anone the Lath thumps and smites it. 1688 R. Holme Armoury iii. 107/2 The Leath, that is a moving Frame in which the reed is placed by which the Woof is knockt or beaten into the Warp. 1743 Maxwell Sel. Trans. 342 The Weaver should..likewise be careful each time he throws the Shuttle, that he draws the Thread straight and light to the Cloth, before he strikes with the Leath. 1889 Posselt Techn. Textile Design 123 Lay, Lathe or Batten, a part of a loom. To it are secured the shuttle-boxes and the reed. |
▪ V. lathe, v. Obs. exc. dial.
Also 9 dial. laith(e.
[OE. laðian = OFris. lathia, ladia, OS. laðian, OHG. ladôn (MHG., mod.G. laden), ON. laða, Goth. laþôn; cogn. w. Goth. laþaleikô willingly.]
trans. To invite, call.
c 900 tr. Bæda's Hist. iii. iii. [v.] (1890) 160 Þonne laþode he hi þæt hi onfengan þam ᵹeryne Cristes ᵹeleafan. c 1050 Voc. in Wr.-Wülcker 429 Inuitat me, he me lathath. c 1175 Lamb. Hom. 145 Ach him is wel þet is ilaðed from lutel weole to muchele. a 1225 Ancr. R. 144 Eihte þinges nomeliche munegeð & laðieð us to wakien i sume gode. 13.. E.E. Allit. P. B. 163 To þis frelych feste þat fele arn to called, For alle arn laþed luflyly. 1432–50 tr. Higden (Rolls) V. 275 Hengistus callede or lathede by treason the kynge of Briteyne. 1859 Waugh Poems & Lanc. Songs ii. (1870) 82 Aw'll laithe a rook o' neighbour lads. |
Hence † lather, one who invites or summons.
a 1175 Cott. Hom. 235 An þesser laȝe of þe witȝin wer laðieres moche. Ibid. 237 An þisser beoð bedeles and laðieres. [Cf. laver, lavier (Pembrokesh.): see E.D.D.] |
▪ VI. lathe
obs. form of loath, loathe.