lath

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-Germanic *lattō, *laþþō (compare Dutch lat, German Latte) from Proto-Indo-European *(s)lat- (compare Welsh llath (“rod, wand, yard”)).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /læθ/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -æθ
• Rhymes: -ɑːθ

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.
   • 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 2015, p. 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.

   Synonym: lath strap

2. (geology, petrology) Microscopic, needle-like crystals, usually of plagioclase feldspar, in a glassy groundmass[1]

Holonyms

• lattice

Derived terms

Terms derived from lath (noun)

• lath and plaster, plaster and lath
• lath board
• lath brick
• lathen
• lath nail
• lath plaster
• lath strapping
• 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 Danish: lægte c Finnish: rima (fi) French: liteau (fr) m, volige (fr) f, latte (fr) f Galician: ripa (gl) f, lata 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 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) Sorbian: Lower Sorbian: łatwa f, plańka f Spanish: listón (es) m Swedish: läkt (sv) c Welsh: dellten f

See also

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

References

1. Geological Digressions, "Glossary: Petrography and petrology"

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