Also 5, 7 lath. [Of obscure history; prob. cognate with Da. lad, in drejelad turning-lathe, also in other compounds in which it has the general sense of ‘stand, supporting framework,’ e.g., savelad saw-bench, sengelad bedstead, tøndelad gantry, væverlad loom. The Da. word is prob. a special use of lad pile, heap regularly built up:—ON. hlađ, related to hlađa to LADE.
If the coincidence in form and meaning with Da. lad be not purely accidental, the Eng. word must, notwithstanding its late occurrence, have come down from the time of the Danish settlements in England. (A native OE. cognate is out of the question, as it would have had d, not đ.) The Da. word, in compounds, is cited by Kalkar from the 15–16th c.
As the older form of turning-lathe, used as late as the 19th century, was worked by means of a spring-lath overhead (see drawing in Encycl. Brit., ed. 9, XIV. 323), it is not wholly impossible that the word may be a modification of LATH sb.; but against this is the occurrence of the word in the wider Danish sense (see sense 1).
The ON. lauđ in Dicts. miswritten lōđ, and explained ‘smith’s lathe’) is commonly given as the etymon, but erroneously. All that is known of the word is that it was used in composition to form poetic synonyms for gold.]
† 1. ? gen. A supporting structure, stand, scaffold.
1476. Record St. Mary’s Ratcliffe, in Antiq. Sarisb. (1771), 209. A new Sepulchre … with all the ordinance that longeth thereto; that is to say, A lath made of timber and iron work thereto; Item, thereto longeth Heven, made of timber … Item Hell made of timber and iron-work with Devils.
2. spec. (More fully turning-lathe.) A machine for turning wood, metal, ivory, etc., in which the article to be turned is held in a horizontal position by means of adjustable centers and rotated against the tools with which it is cut to the required shape.
The lathe is used chiefly for turning circular and oval work, but it is also used for turning irregular forms and in engraving figure-work and geometrical designs on metal.
1611. [see LARE2].
1659. Leak, Water-works, 25. As in a Turners Lathe.
1678. Butler, Hud., III. ii. 376. Could turn his Word and Oath and Faith As many ways as in a Lath.
1753. Hogarth, Anal. Beauty, x. 58. A turner, in his lathe, might turn a much finer neck.
1812–6. J. Smith, Panorama Sci. & Art, I. 31. A file … to smooth wood or metal revolving in the lathe.
1875. Jowett, Plato (ed. 2), III. 616. In the form of a globe, round as from a lathe.
b. With qualifying words indicating (a) the source of driving power, as engine-, foot-, hand-, etc.; (b) a special form of construction, as centre-, chuck-, duplex-, mandrel-, pole-, etc.; (c) the kind of work done with it, as chasing-, fluting-, oval-, screw-cutting-, etc.; for which see those words.
c. A machine for ‘throwing’ and turning pottery-ware, the article being placed upon a revolving horizontal disc. (More explicitly potter’s lathe.)
1773. Encycl. Brit., III. 506/2. The wheel and lathe are the chief … instruments in pottery; the first for large works, and the last for small…. The potter’s lathe is also a kind of wheel, but more simple and slight than the former.
1839. Ure, Dict. Arts, 1012. In large potteries, the whole of the lathes, both for throwing and turning, are put in motion by a steam engine.
3. attrib. and Comb., as lathe-chuck, -drill, -frame, -mark, -work; lathe-turned adj.; lathe-bearer, -carrier, -dog, various names for the appliance that connects the object to be turned with the centers of the lathe; lathe-bed, the lower framework of a lathe, having a slot from end to end in which one or both of the heads may be moved backwards or forwards; lathe-frame, the frame upon which the lathe stands; lathe-head, (a) the head-stock of a lathe; (b) ‘a small dental or laboratory lathe that may be fitted to a bench’ (Cent. Dict.); lathe-man (see quot.); lathe-treader, a man or boy employed to turn the potter’s lathe.
1853. O. Byrne, Handbk. Artisan, 146. Sometimes … the grinder is laid upon the *lathe-bearers or other support.
1849. Weale, Dict. Terms, 253/1. A long frame, called the *lathe-bed … is fixed at each end upon two short standards.
1879. Cassell’s Techn. Educ., IV. 266/1. The slide-rest will … move along the lathe-bed.
1873. J. Richards, Wood-working Factories, 160. The shear, or *lathe frame … can be made of wood.
1893. Labour Commission, Gloss., *Lath Men, brass-finishers employed solely in turning at the lathe and not engaged in fitting at the bench or vice.
1868. G. Stephens, Runic Mon., I. 287. On the battered and broken metal we can still see traces of the *lathe-mark.
1865. Eliza Meteyard, Life J. Wedgwood, I. 338. This branch of the trade employed a skilled body of men … and the boys called *lathe-treaders who made the necessary movements for them.
1868. G. Stephens, Runic Mon., I. 286. ‘Barbarian’ work of this period was as often *lathe-turned as Roman.
1875. Carpentry & Join., 146. For *lathe work I have pursued a different course.
