lath

See also: láth, laþ, and láð

English

Alternative forms

• lat, latt (Scotland)

Etymology

From Middle English laththe, laþþe, earlier lathe, laþe, altered from Old English lætt (“lath”), from Proto-West Germanic *lattu, from Proto-Germanic *lattō, *laþþō (compare Dutch lat, German Latte) from Proto-Indo-European *(s)lat- (compare Welsh llath (“rod, wand, yard”)).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /lɑːθ/, /læθ/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɑːθ
• Rhymes: -æθ

Noun

lath (plural laths)

1. A thin, narrow strip, fastened to the rafters, studs, or floor beams of a building, for the purpose of supporting a covering of tiles, plastering, etc.

   Synonym: lath strap

   • 1973, Thomas Pynchon, Gravity's Rainbow:

     The rubble waits him, sloping up to broken rear walls in a clogging, an openwork of laths pointlessly chevroning-flooring, furniture, glass, chunks of plaster, long tatters of wallpaper, split and shattered joists […].

   • 1995, Alan Warner, Morvern Callar, Vintage, published 2015, page 21:

     Lanna says about wishing she was bigger in the chest and I goes that I had nothing to beat there and I was thin as a lat.

2. (geology, petrology) Microscopic, needle-like crystals, usually of plagioclase feldspar, in a glassy groundmass
3. (mining) one of the sharp-edged, thick planks driven forward to hold back loose earth or mud when digging the way through for tunnelling or spiling. Also called a spill.

Holonyms

• lattice

Derived terms

Terms derived from lath (noun)

• dagger of lath
• lath and plaster, plaster and lath
• lath board
• lath brick
• lathen
• lath nail
• lath plaster
• lath strapping
• lathwork
• lathy

 

Translations

a thin, narrow strip, fastened to the rafters, studs, or floor beams of a building, for the purpose of supporting a covering of tiles, plastering, etc.

• Bulgarian: летва (bg) f (letva)
• Catalan: llistó (ca) m
• Czech: lať (cs) f, laťka (cs) f
• Danish: lægte c
• Finnish: rima (fi)
• French: liteau (fr) m, volige (fr) f, latte (fr) f
• Galician: ripa (gl) f, lata (gl) f, latiza f, listón m
• German: Latte (de) f, Leiste (de) f
• Hungarian: léc (hu)
• Irish: lata m
• Maori: kauawhi, pae tārai
• Norman: latte f
• Ottoman Turkish: لاطه (lata)
• Persian: توفال (fa) (tufâl)
• Polish: listwa (pl) f, łata (pl) f, deszczułka
• Portuguese: ripa (pt) f
• Russian: пла́нка (ru) f (plánka), ре́йка (ru) f (réjka), дра́нка (ru) f (dránka)
• Serbo-Croatian: lajsna (sh) f
• Sorbian:

  Lower Sorbian: łatwa f, plańka f

• Spanish: listón (es) m
• Swedish: läkt (sv) c
• Turkish: lata (tr)
• Welsh: dellten f

See also

• plaster
• plasterboard
• gypsum plaster
• gypsum board
• gyprock
• sheetrock
• wallboard
• drywall
• cement board
• lathe

Verb

lath (third-person singular simple present laths, present participle lathing, simple past and past participle lathed)

1. to cover or line with laths

Anagrams

• HALT, thal, halt, Thal