noun / verb
lath
LATH/læθ/
A thin, narrow strip of wood or metal used in building, or to cover a surface with such strips.
One loose lath rests beside the narrow strips fastened across the wall studs.
Etymology
The word names narrow wooden strips used in roofing and plastering. It probably comes from a variant of Old English lætt, “beam, lath,” but the proposed ancestry has difficulties in its sound history.
In context
Lath and plaster is the same basic idea with the rough woven sticks swapped out for neat sawn wooden strips
More examples
- Several old laths split when we removed the plaster.
- They lath the ceiling before applying the first plaster coat.
- The repair crew replaces a damaged strip of metal lath.
Forms
lath · laths · lathed · lathing
lathing noun — A framework of strips that supports plaster.