lace

American  

[lays] / leɪs /

noun

• laces
  plural

1. a netlike ornamental fabric made of threads by hand or machine.

2. a cord or string for holding or drawing together, as when passed through holes in opposite edges.

3. ornamental cord or braid, especially of gold or silver, used to decorate uniforms, hats, etc.

4. a small amount of alcoholic liquor or other substance added to food or drink.

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verb (used with object)

• laces,
  present (3rd person singular)
• laced,
  past participle,  past
• lacing
  present participle

1. to fasten, draw together, or compress by or as if by means of a lace.

2. to pass (a cord, leather strip, etc.), as through holes.

3. to interlace or intertwine.

4. to adorn or trim with lace.

5. to add a small amount of alcoholic liquor or other substance to (food or drink).

   He took his coffee laced with brandy.

6. to lash, beat, or thrash.

7. to compress the waist of (a person) by drawing tight the laces of a corset, or the like.

8. to mark or streak, as with color.

verb (used without object)

• laces,
  present (3rd person singular)
• laced,
  past participle,  past
• lacing
  present participle

1. to be fastened with a lace.

   These shoes lace up the side.

2. to attack physically or verbally (often followed byinto ).

   The teacher laced into his students.

lace British  

/ leɪs /

noun

1. a delicate decorative fabric made from cotton, silk, etc, woven in an open web of different symmetrical patterns and figures

2. a cord or string drawn through holes or eyelets or around hooks to fasten a shoe or garment

3. ornamental braid often used on military uniforms, etc

4. a dash of spirits added to a beverage

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verb

1. to fasten (shoes, etc) with a lace

2. (tr) to draw (a cord or thread) through holes, eyes, etc, as when tying shoes

3. (tr) to compress the waist of (someone), as with a corset

4. (tr) to add a small amount of alcohol or drugs to (food or drink)

5. to streak or mark with lines or colours

   the sky was laced with red

6. (tr) to intertwine; interlace

7. informal (tr) to give a sound beating to

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• lacer
  noun
• relace
  verb
• lacelike
  adjective
• well-laced
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• laces
  plural

Participles

• lacing
  present
• laced
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• lace
  simple
• laces
  simple
• have laced
  perfect
• has laced
  perfect
• am lacing
  progressive
• are lacing
  progressive
• is lacing
  progressive
• have been lacing
  perfect progressive
• has been lacing
  perfect progressive

Past

• laced
  simple
• had laced
  perfect
• was lacing
  progressive
• were lacing
  progressive
• had been lacing
  perfect progressive

Future

• will lace
  simple
• will have laced
  perfect
• will be lacing
  progressive
• will have been lacing
  perfect progressive

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Etymology

Origin of lace

1175–1225; (noun) Middle English las < Old French laz, las ≪ Latin laqueus noose; (v.) Middle English lasen < Middle French lacier, lasser, lachier ( French lacer ) ≪ Latin laqueāre to enclose in a noose, trap

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Explanation

Your grandmother's kitchen curtains might be made from lace, a delicate fabric with twists and loops forming patterns of holes. Lace is often used for fancy dresses, special doilies and tablecloths, and decorative accents. You can also use the noun lace to describe the cord you tie your sneakers with, and the verb lace can mean twist or braid or intertwine: "The two friends lace their arms around each other and skip across the playground." Lace is surprisingly related to lasso, a loop of rope carried by a cowboy — both words are rooted in the Latin laqueus, "noose or snare."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

lace laces laced lacing

Fiebig wore an off-the-shoulder lace gown, and Shue wore a black suit without a tie, the photos showed.

From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 2, 2026

The objects of traditional Catholic practice were recontextualized; the heavy silver crucifixes, rosaries and black funeral lace instead became a stylized armor.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 28, 2026

And somewhere in that crowd will be a youngster attending their first fight, watching two of Britain's most recognisable sportsmen walk out and perhaps deciding they want to lace up a pair of gloves themselves.

From BBC ● Sep. 24, 2026

The actress marked the occasion by donning a stunning lace Schiaparelli gown featuring long sleeves and a high neckline.

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 23, 2026

As she laid him back into his wrappings and began to lace him in, his face crumpled in betrayal and he opened his mouth.

From "The Birchbark House" by Louise Erdrich

No longer an unknown, the treadmill phenom is eyeing a bigger prize when he laces up for the Chicago Marathon on Sunday.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 10, 2026

Hershey has faced similar litigation over other seasonal Reese’s candies, including ghost-shaped chocolates without depicted facial features and football-shaped candies that lacked the laces shown on their packaging.

From Salon ● Sep. 19, 2026

The director laces a 16th-century period drama with a series of mysteries in his latest film, which centers on a samurai who rebels against the local warlord.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 30, 2026

She wears rainbow laces on her football boots, rainbow armbands, regularly posts messages of LGBTQ+ support on social media and in April, dedicated her goal against Everton to the transgender community.

From BBC ● Oct. 22, 2025

He took one of the laces and wrapped it around his wrist a few times, and the metal points stuck together.

From "As Brave As You" by Jason Reynolds

Unless it's laced with some pragmatism when facing the best teams in their own backyard then it can blow up in your face, which it did at Celtic Park.

From BBC ● Oct. 18, 2026

He cautioned, however, that the path forward was still laced with uncertainty about how markets would evolve around the technology.

From Barron's ● Oct. 16, 2026

Across the lot in an unused patch of pavement, pops of bright orange and yellow reach skyward toward the imposing barbed wire that’s laced atop metal security bars.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 2, 2026

And Taylor Farms would certainly top the list for anyone glued to a toilet bowl lately, thanks to the company’s alleged indiscretion handling lettuce laced with the “explosive diarrhea” parasite.

From Salon ● Aug. 19, 2026

Again with guilt, she took Lane’s hand and tightly, warmly laced fingers with him.

From "Franny and Zooey" by J. D. Salinger

Oakley favors natural lighting and minimal makeup, lacing the film with shots of critters and insects going about their business.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 16, 2026

On Saturday, Belfast's Agyarko gets the opportunity he has craved since first lacing up the gloves when he faces IBF light-middleweight champion Josh Kelly in Saudi Arabia.

From BBC ● Jul. 22, 2026

So he decides to keep appearing in clubs to tell tales of his relationship woes, lacing the commentary with rueful remarks that are vaguely comic, though nothing he says is actually funny.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 18, 2025

It also feels like a moment — to use a sports metaphor, which I’m not an athlete — that you’re lacing up your shoes.

From Salon ● Sep. 13, 2025

Baba said, reclining on the sofa and lacing his hands behind his head.

From "The Kite Runner" by Khaled Hosseini

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