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.
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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
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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
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are lathingprogressive
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is lathingprogressive
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have been lathingperfect progressive
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has been lathingperfect progressive
Past
-
lathedsimple
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had lathedperfect
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was lathingprogressive
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were lathingprogressive
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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:
My own report from Dexter was a horror show: massive, insulation-free gaps between interior and exterior walls, revealing chunks of stone and lath that had last seen daylight when James Madison was president.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 21, 2025
The DfE previously said it was liaising with the county council for updates and there was "no evidence of there being systematic issues with lath and plaster".
From BBC ● Oct. 18, 2024
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
Lee points out a nest of bees that thrum inside the wall near the broad main staircase, the hive built amid the exposed lath.
From Washington Post ● Aug. 10, 2021
The dining table was a smooth piece of lath supported on both ends by stones.
From "Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH" by Robert C. O'Brien
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
Seepage has rotted away the wooden beams supporting the parqueted floors, loosened the gold and plaster ceilings which are nailed precariously to deteriorating laths.
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
They found a side doorway of one structure wide open, and stepped into a lathed but unplastered hallway.
From The Mystery at Putnam Hall The School Chums' Strange Discovery by Stratemeyer, Edward
Two very fair doors ... were lathed, daubed, and dammed up, the fair pillars were ordinary posts, against which they piled billets and bavens.
From Bell's Cathedrals: Southwark Cathedral Formerly the Collegiate Church of St. Saviour, Otherwise St. Mary Overie. A Short History and Description of the Fabric, with Some Account of the College and the See by Worley, George
The houses are in general of the meanest description, seldom exceeding one story in height, and being for the most part weather-boarded without, and lathed and plastered within.
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
When the lathing and plastering were completed, the little bride-elect began to tremble with timidity and happiness at the consciousness of the nearness of her approaching transfer to the Home.
From Amarilly of Clothes-line Alley by Maniates, Belle Kanaris
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
