Definition of "lath"

lath

/læθ/

noun
plural laths
1. 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.
  Quotations
  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 […].
  1973, Thomas Pynchon, Gravity's Rainbow
  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.
  1995, Alan Warner, Morvern Callar, Vintage, published 2015, page 21
2. (geology, petrology) Microscopic, needle-like crystals, usually of plagioclase feldspar, in a glassy groundmass
3. (mining) one of the sharp-edged, thick planks driven forward to hold back loose earth or mud when digging the way through for tunnelling or spiling. Also called a spill.
verb
third-person singular simple present laths, present participle lathing, simple past and past participle lathed
1. to cover or line with laths