Word Confusion: Lath vs Lathe vs Lave

Posted October 1, 2015 by Kathy Davie in Author Resources, Self-Editing, Word Confusions, Writing

Revised as of
14 Jan 2023

Nope, I am not going to get excited about someone “lathing fire across my breasts”. It’s gonna hurt when he nails the fire down.

Lave is a common enough word used in romance novels, and while it doesn’t float my boat, it’s a darn sight better choice than someone lathing kisses across my stomach . . . ouch . . .

Word Confusions . . .

. . . started as my way of dealing with a professional frustration with properly spelled words that were out of context in manuscripts I was editing as well as books I was reviewing. It evolved into a sharing of information with y’all. I’m hoping you’ll share with us words that have been a bête noire for you from either end. Consider sharing this Word Confusion with friends by tweeting it.

Lath	Lathe	Lave
Lath uploaded by Asmithmd1 is in the public domain, via Wikimedia Commons. — Laths seen from the back with plaster visible between them.	Wheelwright from Eikamp, Odenthal, is in Bergisches Museum of Mining, Crafts and Trades and is Frank Vincentz’s own work under the GFDL or CC BY-SA 3.0 license, via Wikimedia Commons. — Carving a spoke on a lathe.	Young Man Washing by nevillekingston is under the CC0-1.0 license, via VisualHunt. — A gentle lave.
Part of Grammar:
Noun; Verb, transitive Plural for the noun: laths Gerund: lathing Third person present verb: laths Past tense or past participle: lathed Present participle: lathing	Noun ¹; Verb, transitive ² Plural for the noun: lathes Gerund: lathing Third person present verb: lathes Past tense or past participle: lathed Present participle: lathing	Noun, uncountable ¹,³ Verb ², intransitive & transitive Plural for the noun: lave Gerund: laving Third person present verb: laves Past tense or past participle: laved Present participle: laving
Noun: A thin flat strip of wood, especially one of a series forming a foundation for the plaster of a wall, the tiles of a roof, or made into a trellis or fence [Collective noun; laths] A building material, especially as a foundation for supporting plaster [Building] Expanded sheet metal, wire mesh, etc, used to provide backing for plaster or rendering Any thin strip of wood Verb, transitive: Cover a wall or ceiling with laths	Noun: A machine for shaping wood, metal, or other material by means of a rotating drive that turns the piece being worked on against changeable cutting tools ¹ Verb, transitive: Shape with a lathe ²	Noun, uncountable: [Archaic & mostly dialect] Something that is left ¹ The remainder The rest Remnant Others [Scottish] The remainder ³ Residue Verb, intransitive: [Archaic] To wash oneself ² To bathe Verb, transitive: [Literary] Wash, bathe ² [Of water] Wash against or over something Flow along or against Pour
Examples:
Noun: Those laths will have to be replaced unless you want to rip it all down and use drywall. There’s a broken lath in the west wall. Laths are great to use for hanging fiber artwork. Verb, transitive: Mick’s lathing the bathroom this afternoon. Hank, can you lath the kitchen next week?	Noun: Did ya hear about that new lathe George got? I wonder if Mark will let me use his lathe? Mary turned the most gorgeous knitting needles on her lathe. Verb, transitive: Yep, Tom lathed all the balusters himself. I got Bob to lathe some great brass handles for my chisels.	Noun, uncountable: “I love the Lily as the first of flowers Whose stately stalk so straight up is and stay; To whom th’ lave ay lowly louts and cowers As bound so brave a beauty to obey.” – Alexander Montgomery “Martin Morgan is the fourth generation of his family to fish using lave nets, a tradition going back 400 years” (Plastic). Verb, intransitive: Waves laved and the wind fluttered that afternoon. “Then he felt all of the muscles of his body contract violently, caught in a spasm of reflex action, and at the same time he felt his groin laved with warm water” (Wright). “The boy walked out and squatted and laved up the dark water” (McCarthy). Verb, transitive: She ran cold water in the basin, laving her face and hands. The sea below laved the shore with small, agitated waves. He laved her breasts with slow strokes of his tongue. The cold water from the stream gently laved her burned fingers.
Derivatives:
		Noun: lavation
History of the Word:
First known use was the 13th century. Old English lætt is of Germanic origin and related to the Dutch lat, the German Latte or Latta, or the Welsh llath meaning yard.	The first known use was in 1611. Middle English and probably from lath meaning supporting stand OR the Old Danish lad meaning structure or frame. It may be from the Old Norse hlath meaning pile or heap, related to hlatha. The first known use was circa 1903.	The first known use was before the 12th century. The northern dialect in Middle English lave, laif, lafe meaning remainder, rest, or that which is left from the Old English lāf meaning lave, remainder, or rest and akin to the Old English belīfan meaning to remain. Old English lafian, from the Latin lavare meaning to wash and reinforced in Middle English by the Old French laver. Before 1000, Middle English Scots, from the Old English lāf; c. the Old High German leiba, the Old Norse leif, the Gothic laiba.

Lath

Lathe

Lave

A wall of lath strips with the plaster oozing between

Lath uploaded by Asmithmd1 is in the public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.

—

Laths seen from the back with plaster visible between them.

An example of turning a length of wood on a lathe

Wheelwright from Eikamp, Odenthal, is in Bergisches Museum of Mining, Crafts and Trades and is Frank Vincentz’s own work under the GFDL or CC BY-SA 3.0 license, via Wikimedia Commons.

—

Carving a spoke on a lathe.

Young man in bold pink shirt and rolled up trousers, splashing water onto himself.

Young Man Washing by nevillekingston is under the CC0-1.0 license, via VisualHunt.

—

A gentle lave.

Part of Grammar:

Noun; Verb, transitive

Plural for the noun: laths
Gerund: lathing

Third person present verb: laths
Past tense or past participle: lathed
Present participle: lathing

Noun ¹; Verb, transitive ²

Plural for the noun: lathes
Gerund: lathing

Third person present verb: lathes
Past tense or past participle: lathed
Present participle: lathing

Noun, uncountable ¹,³
Verb ², intransitive & transitive

Plural for the noun: lave
Gerund: laving

Third person present verb: laves
Past tense or past participle: laved
Present participle: laving

Noun:
A thin flat strip of wood, especially one of a series forming a foundation for the plaster of a wall, the tiles of a roof, or made into a trellis or fence

[Collective noun; laths] A building material, especially as a foundation for supporting plaster

[Building] Expanded sheet metal, wire mesh, etc, used to provide backing for plaster or rendering

Any thin strip of wood

Verb, transitive:
Cover a wall or ceiling with laths

Noun:
A machine for shaping wood, metal, or other material by means of a rotating drive that turns the piece being worked on against changeable cutting tools ¹

Verb, transitive:
Shape with a lathe ²

Noun, uncountable:
[Archaic & mostly dialect] Something that is left ¹

The remainder
The rest
Remnant
Others

[Scottish] The remainder ³

Residue

Verb, intransitive:
[Archaic] To wash oneself ²

To bathe

Verb, transitive:
[Literary] Wash, bathe ²

[Of water] Wash against or over something
Flow along or against

Pour

Examples:

Noun:
Those laths will have to be replaced unless you want to rip it all down and use drywall.

There’s a broken lath in the west wall.

Laths are great to use for hanging fiber artwork.

Verb, transitive:
Mick’s lathing the bathroom this afternoon.

Hank, can you lath the kitchen next week?

Noun:
Did ya hear about that new lathe George got?

I wonder if Mark will let me use his lathe?

Mary turned the most gorgeous knitting needles on her lathe.

Verb, transitive:
Yep, Tom lathed all the balusters himself.

I got Bob to lathe some great brass handles for my chisels.

Noun, uncountable:
“I love the Lily as the first of flowers
Whose stately stalk so straight up is and stay;
To whom th’ lave ay lowly louts and cowers
As bound so brave a beauty to obey.”

– Alexander Montgomery

“Martin Morgan is the fourth generation of his family to fish using lave nets, a tradition going back 400 years” (Plastic).

Verb, intransitive:
Waves laved and the wind fluttered that afternoon.

“Then he felt all of the muscles of his body contract violently, caught in a spasm of reflex action, and at the same time he felt his groin laved with warm water” (Wright).

“The boy walked out and squatted and laved up the dark water” (McCarthy).

Verb, transitive:
She ran cold water in the basin, laving her face and hands.

The sea below laved the shore with small, agitated waves.

He laved her breasts with slow strokes of his tongue.

The cold water from the stream gently laved her burned fingers.

Derivatives:

Noun: lavation

History of the Word:

First known use was the 13th century.

Old English lætt is of Germanic origin and related to the Dutch lat, the German Latte or Latta, or the Welsh llath meaning yard.

The first known use was in 1611.
Middle English and probably from lath meaning supporting stand OR the Old Danish lad meaning structure or frame. It may be from the Old Norse hlath meaning pile or heap, related to hlatha.
The first known use was circa 1903.

The first known use was before the 12th century.

The northern dialect in Middle English lave, laif, lafe meaning remainder, rest, or that which is left from the Old English lāf meaning lave, remainder, or rest and akin to the Old English belīfan meaning to remain.
Old English lafian, from the Latin lavare meaning to wash and reinforced in Middle English by the Old French laver.
Before 1000, Middle English Scots, from the Old English lāf; c. the Old High German leiba, the Old Norse leif, the Gothic laiba.

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C’mon, get it out of your system, bitch, whine, moan . . . which words are your pet peeves? Also, please note that I try to be as accurate as I can, but mistakes happen or I miss something. Email me if you find errors, so I can fix them . . . and we’ll all benefit!

Satisfy your curiosity about other Word Confusions on its homepage or more generally explore the index of self-editing posts. You may also want to explore Book Layout & Formatting Ideas, Formatting Tips, Grammar Explanations, Linguistics, Publishing Tips, the Properly Punctuated, Writing Ideas and Resources, and Working Your Website.

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Resources for Lath vs Lathe vs Lave

Apple Dictionary.com

The Free Dictionary: lath, lave

McCarthy, Cormac. The Road. Vintage: 2007. <https://amzn.to/3ixNjis>. Ebook.

Merriam-Webster: lath, lave

“Plastic Pollution in Severn Estuary a ‘Crying Shame’.” BBC. 1 June 2019. Web. 14 Jan 2023. <https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-wales-48453931>. Article.

Wright, Richard. Native Son. Harper & Brothers, New York: 1940. Harper Perennial Modern Classics: 2009. <https://amzn.to/3XOvSJt>. Ebook.

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Pinterest Photo Credits

Is My Cat Normal? is from a slideshow on WebMD. Lath, Kent, is JackyR’s own work under the GFDL, CC-BY-SA-3.0, or CC BY-SA 2.5-2.0-1.0 license, via Wikimedia Commons. Making Chess Pieces by Evan Bench is under the CC BY 2.0 license, via VisualHunt.

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