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Webster 1913 Edition
Lathe
Lathe
(läth)
, Noun.
[AS.
lǣð
. Of uncertain origin.] Formerly, a part or division of a county among the Anglo-Saxons. At present it consists of four or five hundreds, and is confined to the county of Kent.
[Written also
lath
.] Brande & C.
Lathe
(lāth)
, Noun.
[OE.
lathe
a granary; akin to G. lade
a chest, Icel. hlaða
a storehouse, barn; but cf. also Icel. löð
a smith’s lathe. Senses 2 and 3 are perh. of the same origin as lathe
a granary, the original meaning being, a frame to hold something. If so, the word is from an older form of E. lade
to load. See Lade
to load.] 1.
A granary; a barn.
[Obs.]
Chaucer.
2.
(Mach.)
A machine for turning, that is, for shaping articles of wood, metal, or other material, by causing them to revolve while acted upon by a cutting tool.
3.
The movable swing frame of a loom, carrying the reed for separating the warp threads and beating up the weft; – called also
lay
and batten
. Blanchard lathe
, a lathe for turning irregular forms after a given pattern, as lasts, gunstocks, and the like.
– Drill lathe
, or Speed lathe
a small lathe which, from its high speed, is adapted for drilling; a hand lathe.
– Engine lathe
, a turning lathe in which the cutting tool has an automatic feed; – used chiefly for turning and boring metals, cutting screws, etc.
– Foot lathe
, a lathe which is driven by a treadle worked by the foot.
– Geometric lathe
. See under Geometric
– Hand lathe
, a lathe operated by hand; a power turning lathe without an automatic feed for the tool.
– Slide lathe
, an engine lathe.
– Throw lathe
, a small lathe worked by one hand, while the cutting tool is held in the other.
Webster 1828 Edition
Lathe
LATHE
,Noun.
An engine by which instruments of wood, ivory, metals and other materials, are turned and cut into a smooth round form.
Definition 2024
lathe
lathe
See also: lath
English
A lathe.
Alternative forms
Verb
lathe (third-person singular simple present lathes, present participle lathing, simple past and past participle lathed)
Etymology 2
From Middle English *lath, from Old English lǣþ (“a division of a county containing several hundreds, a district, lathe”).
Alternative forms
Noun
lathe (plural lathes)
- (obsolete) An administrative division of the county of Kent, in England, from the Anglo-Saxon period until it fell entirely out of use in the early twentieth century.
Etymology 3
From Middle English lath (“turning-lathe; stand”), from Old Norse hlað (“pile, heap”)—compare dialectal Danish lad (“stand, support frame”) (as in drejelad (“turning-lathe”), savelad (“saw bench”)), dialectal Norwegian la, lad (“pile, small wall”), dialectal Swedish lad (“folding table, lay of a loom”)—from hlaða (“to load”). More at lade.
Noun
lathe (plural lathes)
- A machine tool used to shape a piece of material, or workpiece, by rotating the workpiece against a cutting tool.
- He shaped the bedpost by turning it on a lathe.
- 1856: Gustave Flaubert, Madame Bovary, Part II Chapter IV, translated by Eleanor Marx-Aveling
- Of the windows of the village there was one yet more often occupied; for on Sundays from morning to night, and every morning when the weather was bright, one could see at the dormer-window of the garret the profile of Monsieur Binet bending over his lathe, whose monotonous humming could be heard at the Lion d'Or.
- The movable swing frame of a loom, carrying the reed for separating the warp threads and beating up the weft; a lay, or batten.
- (obsolete) A granary; a barn.
- (Can we find and add a quotation of Chaucer to this entry?)
Derived terms
Translations
machine tool used to shape a piece of material
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Verb
lathe (third-person singular simple present lathes, present participle lathing, simple past and past participle lathed)
- To shape with a lathe.
- (computer graphics) To produce a three-dimensional model by rotating a set of points around a fixed axis.
Translations
to shape with a lathe