lath

Definition

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.

Etymology

From Middle English laththe, laþþe, earlier lathe, laþe, altered from Old English lætt (“lath”), from Proto-West Germanic *lattu, from Proto-Germanic *lattō, *laþþō (compare Dutch lat, German Latte) from Proto-Indo-European *(s)lat- (compare Welsh llath (“rod, wand, yard”)).

Example Sentences

• ""You are as thin as a lath and as brown as a nut.""
• "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 […]."
• "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."

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