Forms: 4 latijs, latis, pl. latises, -is, 4–6 latys, 5 lates, -eys(e, pl. letusez, 5–6 latyse, 6 lateis, -esse, -ise, lattes(e, -is, lettise, pl. lattas(s)es, 6–7 lattesse, 6–8 lattise, lettice, 7 latice, latteise, pl. lettases, 6– lattice. [a. OF. and F. lattis, f. latte LATH.]
1. A structure made of laths, or of wood or metal crossed and fastened together, with open spaces left between; used as a screen, e.g., in window openings and the like; a window, gate, screen, etc., so constructed.
1382. Wyclif, Prov. vii. 6. Fro the windowe … of myn hous bi the latys I beheeld the ȝunge man.
14[?]. Chaucer’s Troylus, II. 566 (615) (Harl. MS. 3943). A! go we see, caste up the latis [v.r. yates] wyde, For thurgh this strete he most to palays ryde.
c. 1440. Gesta Rom., lxxx. 400 (Add. MS.). The pareshe preste … sate at his selle, and lokede oute at his latyse towarde the kyrke.
1452–3. in Willis & Clark, Cambridge (1886), II. 449. Pro factura x lateys in deambulatorio.
c. 1475. Partenay, 4747. He … The lateis unshitte.
1562. J. Heywood, Prov. & Epigr. (1867), 116. Lattise keepeth out the light and letth in the winde.
1569. Bury Wills (Camden), 155. The glasse lattases and bourdes belonginge to the howse.
1611. Bible, 2 Kings i. 2. Ahaziah fel downe thorow a lattesse in his vpper chamber.
a. 1674. Milton, Hist. Mosc., Wks. 1738, II. 130. Small Windows, some of Glass, some with Latices, or Iron Bars.
1693. Evelyn, De la Quint. Compl. Gard., II. 114. A Lattice of narrow Laths nail’d a cross one another checker-wise, every square consisting of about twelve Inches.
1717. Lady M. W. Montagu, Lett. to Lady Rich, 1 April. They are made a good deal in the manner of the Dutch stage coaches, having wooden lattices painted and gilded.
1741. trans. D’Argens’ Chinese Lett., xxv. 172. When they don’t choose to be concealed, they open the Lettices.
1814. Scott, Ld. of Isles, V. i. The sunbeam, through the narrow lattice, fell Upon the snowy neck [etc.].
1822. Byron, Werner, V. i. 44. The flowers fell faster—Rain’d from each lattice at his feet.
1866. Rogers, Agric. & Prices, I. xx. 488. The diamond shape of the glass of old casements was suggested by the ancient lattice.
fig. 1621. Donne, Progr. Soul, 2nd Anniv., Poems (1639), 243. Thou shalt not peepe through lattices of eyes, Nor heare through Labyrinths of eares.
1642. Fuller, Holy & Prof. St., V. xiii. 409. He will … creep out at the lattice of a word.
1670. Devout Commun. (1688), 93. Stand not at a distance behind the walls: shew thyself through the lattice of thy ordinance.
1742. Young, Nt. Th., III. 473. Life’s a debtor to the grave, Dark lattice! letting in eternal day.
1850. Tennyson, In Mem., lxx. Thro’ a lattice on the soul Looks thy fair face and makes it still.
† b. A window of lattice-work (usually painted red), or a pattern on the shutter or wall imitating this (see CHEQUER sb.1 4), formerly a common mark of an alehouse or inn. Obs.
1575. Gascoigne, Glasse Govt., IV. vi. There, at a howse with a red lattyce, you shall finde an old baude … and a yong damsell.
1589. R. Harvey, Pl. Perc. (1590), 15. As they which determine vpon an Ale bench whether the passenger that passeth by the lettise be a Saint or a Diuell.
1592. Arden of Feversham, H 2. He … had beene sure to haue had his Signe puld down, & his latice borne away the next night.
1594. Plat, Jewell-ho., II. 15. Some Alewiues, if they had knowne this receipt … wold haue hung out holly bushes at their red lettises, and so they might haue beene mistaken for Tauerns, of many ale knights.
1597. Shaks., 2 Hen. IV., II. ii. 86. He call’d me euen now (my Lord) through a red Lattice.
1598. B. Jonson, Ev. Man in Hum., III. iii. At the signe of the water-tankerd, hard by the greene lattice.
163[?]. Wotton, Educ., in Reliq. (1672), 97. Amongst Tradesmen … they are not poorest, whose Shop windows open over a red Lettice.
1639. Mayne, City Match, I. ii. If he draw not A Lattice to your doore, and hang a bush out.
1689. Shadwell, Bury F., I. i. She by Art makes her face look like a new white wall with a red lettice.
1735. Dyche & Pardon, Dict., Lattice … with us now is generally an ensign of an Alehouse, which to make it the more conspicuous is commonly painted of various Colours, and those who have not a real Wooden one up at their Door, cause Chequers or Squares like ’em to be painted on their Window-shutters, Walls or Side-posts of the Door, &c.
c. Work of the kind described in 1; lattices collectively; = LATTICE-WORK. Also fig.
1577. Harrison, England, II. xii. (1877), I. 236. Our countrie houses, in steed of glasse, did use much lattise.
1597. Shaks., Lover’s Compl., 14. Some beauty peept through lettice of sear’d age. Ibid. (1601), All’s Well, II. iii. 225. My good window of Lettice fare thee well.
1611. Coryat, Crudities, 50. The vpper part of the window … is made of glasse or lattise.
1890. F. G. Carpenter, in Amer. Agriculturalist, Oct., 512 (Funk). Rude frames of lattice filled with greased paper to act as windows.
2. transf. Something with open interlaced structure like that of a lattice.
1657. Tomlinson, Renou’s Disp., Pref. By glancing through the Lattice of a diminishing Telescope.
1684. R. Waller, Nat. Exper., 132. Taking a sheet of Paper, we made several little Lattices in it.
1895. C. R. B. Barrett, Surrey, iii. 91. An oak tree with a curiously twisted lattice of roots.
† b. A check pattern. Obs.
1457. Bury Wills (Camden), 14. Lego gilde sancte Anne in Bury capicium meum penulatum cum letusez.
† 3. A part of the auditorium of a theatre. Obs.
1818. J. Warburton, etc. Dublin, II. 1113. Boxes 5s. 5d.; lattices 4s. 4d.; pit 3s. 3d.; gallery 2s. 2d. Ibid., 118, note. The interior of the house [c. 1793] formed an ellipse, and was divided into three compartments—pit, boxes, and lattices, which were without division.
4. attrib. and Comb., as lattice-blind, -bough, -closing, -edge, -hole, -maker, -nail, -pane, -pattern; lattice-bar Bridge-building (see quot.); lattice beam = lattice girder; lattice-braid, a narrow lattice-like braid made on the lace-pillow (Caulfeild and Saward, Dict. Needlework, 1882, p. 43); lattice-bridge (see quot. 1857); † lattice caltrop (see quot.); lattice-cell (see quot. and cf. LATTICED 2 b); lattice frame, girder, a girder consisting of two horizontal bars connected by diagonal bars crossed so as to resemble lattice-work; lattice leaf (plant), the Ouvirandra fenestralis or lace-leaf of Madagascar; also lattice plant; lattice moss, a moss of the genus Cinclidotus; lattice point Math. (see quot.); lattice-stitch (see quot.); lattice-truss, ‘one having horizontal chords and inclined intersecting braces’ (Knight, Dict. Mech., 1875); lattice-wise adv. in the form of a lattice or lattice-work.
1885. Waddell, Syst. Iron Railr. Bridges Japan, 246. *Lattice-bar, a bar belonging to a system of latticing.
1850. G. D. Dempsey, Iron Girder Bridges, iv. 36. *Lattice beams.
1832. Tennyson, Mariana in S., 87. Backward the *lattice-blind she flung.
1878. Symonds, Many Moods, 175. The star of Love, those *lattice-boughs between.
1838. D. Stevenson, Civil Engin. N. Amer., viii. 231. Town’s Patent *Lattice Bridge.
1857. Humber, Iron Bridges & Girders, 14. The Trellis Girder or Lattice Bridge, consisting of a top and bottom flange connected by a number of flat iron bars which are rivetted across each other at a certain angle, thus forming a lattice.
1497. Nav. Acc. Hen. VII. (1896), 97. *Latescaltraps [Footnote, Perhaps coltraps united by lattice work or rods forming a kind of cheval-de-frise, and thus distinguished from ‘casting caltrops’].
1888. Syd. Soc. Lex., *Lattice-cells, in Botany, Mohl’s term for cells whose walls are irregularly thickened in such a manner as to form a kind of network sculptured in relief.
c. 1425. St. Eliz. of Spalbeck, in Anglia, VIII. 114/46. Þe chapel is departyd fro þe chaumbyr wiþ a smalle *latys-closynge.
1847. Tennyson, Princess, II. 15. Here and there on *lattice edges lay Or book or lute.
1838. D. Stevenson, Civil Engin. N. Amer., viii. 233. *Lattice-frames.
1852. Rep. Brit. Assoc., Notices 123. Barton (title of art.) On the Calculation of strains in *Lattice Girders.
1897. Daily News, 6 Sept., 5/3. A steel pillar with a lattice girder construction.
1556. J. Heywood, Spider & F., i. 32. In at a *lattes hole … fast flew there in a flie.
1866. Treas. Bot., s.v. Ouvirandra, O. fenestralis … is best known as the *Lattice-leaf plant, from its singular leaves resembling open lattice-work.
1872. Oliver, Elem. Bot., II. 252. Allied to the Pondweeds is the rare Lattice-leaf (Ouvirandra fenestralis) of Madagascar.
1562. J. Heywood, Prov. & Epigr. (1867), 116. I wishe … *Lattise makers few, and glasiers many.
1868. Tripp, Brit. Mosses, 108. Cinclidotus,… *Lattice Moss.
1480. Wardr. Acc. Edw. IV. (1830), 122. For dī Ml of *latis-naille price iijd.
1840. Mrs. Norton, Dream, 268. Beaming all redly thro’ the *lattice-pane.
1875. Fortnum, Majolica, viii. 71. *Lattice and diaper patterns.
1877. A. W. Bennett, trans. Thomé’s Bot., 457. The aquatic Ouvirandra or *lattice plant.
1857. in Cayley, Coll. Math. Papers (1890), III. 40. Imagine now in a plane, a rectangular system of coordinates (x. y) and the whole plane divided by lines parallel to the axes at distances = 1 from each other into squares of the dimension = 1. And let the angles which do not lie on the axes of coordinates be called *‘lattice points.’
1882. Caulfeild & Saward, Dict. Needlework, 187. *Lattice-stitch, a stitch used in Ticking work and other ornamental Embroideries for borders and formed of straight interlaced lines.
1538. Elyot, Dict., Cancelli, latteses, or any thynge made *lattese wyse.
a. 1548. Hall, Chron., Hen. VIII., 239. Ryche cloth of golde traverced latyse wyse square.
1601. Holland, Pliny, I. 166. Some sinewes running streight out in length, others crossing ouerthwart lattise-wise.
1715. Leoni, Palladio’s Archit. (1742), II. 37. An additional Door … made Lettice-wise; to the end that the People standing without might see what was done in the Temple.
