lace
a netlike ornamental fabric made of threads by hand or machine.
a cord or string for holding or drawing together, as when passed through holes in opposite edges.
ornamental cord or braid, especially of gold or silver, used to decorate uniforms, hats, etc.
a small amount of alcoholic liquor or other substance added to food or drink.
to fasten, draw together, or compress by or as if by means of a lace.
to pass (a cord, leather strip, etc.), as through holes.
to interlace or intertwine.
to adorn or trim with lace.
to add a small amount of alcoholic liquor or other substance to (food or drink): He took his coffee laced with brandy.
to lash, beat, or thrash.
to compress the waist of (a person) by drawing tight the laces of a corset, or the like.
to mark or streak, as with color.
to be fastened with a lace: These shoes lace up the side.
to attack physically or verbally (often followed by into): The teacher laced into his students.
Origin of lace
1Other words from lace
- lacelike, adjective
- lacer, noun
- re·lace, verb, re·laced, re·lac·ing.
- well-laced, adjective
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use lace in a sentence
They lifted her up, and when they saw that she was laced too tightly, they cut the stay lace in two.
In New Brothers Grimm 'Snow White', The Prince Doesn't Save Her | The Brothers Grimm | November 30, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTNonetheless, Turing killed himself on June 7, 1954, in a deliberately prepared way, by eating a cyanide-laced apple.
The Castration of Alan Turing, Britain’s Code-Breaking WWII Hero | Clive Irving | November 29, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTHere, the whiskey-laced meat masters give you their favorite recipes.
Epic Meal Empire’s Meat Monstrosities: From the Bacon Spider to the Cinnabattleship | Harley Morenstein | July 26, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTNext he laced on first the right skate, with a pad of cotton under the tongue, and then the left.
His acceptance speech was a reflection of his career, and laced with enough profanity to make a pirate blush.
Young Richard, never loath to fortify himself, proved amenable enough to the stiffly laced Canary that his friend set before him.
Mistress Wilding | Rafael SabatiniThen there was Mrs. Hartman, stout and tightly-laced, who had studied the science of elegance while her husband studied sugar.
Love's Pilgrimage | Upton SinclairPointed means fitted or furnished with tagged points or laces; wearing points; laced.
The Fatal Dowry | Philip MassingerWe passed some very pretty peasant girls, dressed in bodices laced crossways with ribbon.
Wery proud I was in a gold-laced hat, a drab coat and a red weskit, to sit by his side, when he drove.
Memoirs of Mr. Charles J. Yellowplush | William Makepeace Thackeray
British Dictionary definitions for lace
/ (leɪs) /
a delicate decorative fabric made from cotton, silk, etc, woven in an open web of different symmetrical patterns and figures
a cord or string drawn through holes or eyelets or around hooks to fasten a shoe or garment
ornamental braid often used on military uniforms, etc
a dash of spirits added to a beverage
to fasten (shoes, etc) with a lace
(tr) to draw (a cord or thread) through holes, eyes, etc, as when tying shoes
(tr) to compress the waist of (someone), as with a corset
(tr) to add a small amount of alcohol or drugs to (food or drink)
(tr; usually passive and foll by with) to streak or mark with lines or colours: the sky was laced with red
(tr) to intertwine; interlace
(tr) informal to give a sound beating to
Origin of lace
1Derived forms of lace
- lacelike, adjective
- lacer, noun
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
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