lath
Americannoun
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laths
plural
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a thin, narrow strip of wood, used with other strips to form latticework, a backing for plaster or stucco, a support for slates and other roofing materials, etc.
-
a group or quantity of such strips.
-
work consisting of such strips.
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wire mesh or the like used in place of wooden laths as a backing for plasterwork.
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a thin, narrow, flat piece of wood used for any purpose.
verb (used with object)
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laths,
present (3rd person singular)
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lathed,
past participle, past
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lathing
present participle
noun
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one of several thin narrow strips of wood used to provide a supporting framework for plaster, tiles, etc
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expanded sheet metal, wire mesh, etc, used to provide backing for plaster or rendering
-
any thin strip of wood
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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lathsimple
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lathssimple
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have lathedperfect
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has lathedperfect
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am lathingprogressive
-
are lathingprogressive
-
is lathingprogressive
-
have been lathingperfect progressive
-
has been lathingperfect progressive
Past
-
lathedsimple
-
had lathedperfect
-
was lathingprogressive
-
were lathingprogressive
-
had been lathingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of lath
before 1000; Middle English la ( th ) the; replacing Middle English latt, Old English lætt; cognate with German Latte, Dutch lat
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
And then there were moments of “11,000 Strings” that sounded like the musical aviaries of Olivier Messiaen emanating from a far away lath house.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 6, 2025
An acre-sized lath house provided shade for tender seedlings, and an innovative rainwater collection system provided water for irrigation six months of the year.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 26, 2024
Penny Carpenter, the cabinet member for children’s services, said the issue related to ceilings made from lath and plaster, which was used from the early 18th century, through to the early to mid 20th century.
From BBC ● Sep. 11, 2024
Readings on lath and plaster can be misleading, though, so if that’s what you have, look for nails in baseboards, which should point to studs, or for electrical outlets, which usually have a stud alongside.
From Washington Post ● May 2, 2022
Inside, it was warmer than when we left, because Woody was already making good his promise to Mama, tacking up some ends of lath he’d found, stuffing rolled paper around the door frame.
From "Farewell to Manzanar" by Jeanne Houston
Overhead, wisteria-laden laths shot through with light cast zebraic arrays of shadow, constantly shifting — another Killingsworth trademark that turns the house into a protean phenomenon.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 18, 2019
She dresses in the traditional clothing of the region—a dark skirt, an embroidered huipil made on a waist loom—and weaves green laths into her long obsidian braids.
From Slate ● Mar. 27, 2018
The three of them moved in a row, stepping on the crooked laths, a few paces apart.
From The Guardian ● Mar. 18, 2013
Norwegians in the Olympic Village dined on smoked salmon and fullkornbroed from home, slept on wooden laths and consulted oracular weather forecasters in Oslo for amazingly accurate predictions of snow.
From Time Magazine Archive
Elsewhere, the exposed laths, themselves rotting away, showed through like the ribs of a starving animal.
From "Atonement" by Ian McEwan
The crucible was lathed out of a solid block of graphite, a form of carbon which conducts electricity well.
From Time Magazine Archive
There was a smell of lubrication and lathed brass.
From "The Martian Chronicles" by Ray Bradbury
The house was substantially built; the walls formed of strong upright posts, lathed across, plastered with mud and whitewashed, and the roof tiled.
From The Naturalist on the River Amazons by Henry Walter Bates
The house was substantially built; the walls formed of strong, upright posts, lathed across, plastered with mud, and whitewashed; and the roof tiled.
From Oregon and Eldorado or, Romance of the Rivers by Thomas Bulfinch
It was lathed and plastered, and no air admitted, except what might come through the floor.
From Mysteries of Bee-keeping Explained by M. (Moses) Quinby
They talked amid the exposed plaster lathing for nearly an hour, then for half an hour more in the street out front.
From Washington Post ● Jan. 26, 2017
For the first six to eight months, I worked at lathing the bottoms of cymbals.
From New York Times ● Oct. 1, 2016
The painting is moving and I’m kind of standing still like a workman on his lathe, lathing a piece of wood.
From Forbes ● Sep. 24, 2014
The walls were stripped down to their lathing, and the new plaster was hand-buffed with beeswax, creating a sheen that, as Ms. Spellman points out, “looks incredible in candlelight.”
From New York Times ● Aug. 8, 2010
The plaster came out easily: the lathing was more obstinate.
From The Circular Staircase by Mary Roberts Rinehart
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