lathe

Meanings

Verb

• To invite; bid; ask.
• To shape with a lathe.
• To produce a three-dimensional model by rotating a set of points around a fixed axis.

Noun

• 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.
• A machine tool used to shape a piece of material, or workpiece, by rotating the workpiece against a cutting tool.
• The movable swing frame of a loom, carrying the reed for separating the warp threads and beating up the weft; a lay, or batten.
• A granary; a barn.

Origin

• From Middle English lathen, from Old English laþian ("to invite, summon, call upon, ask"), from Proto-Germanic *laþōną ("to invite"), from Proto-Indo-European *lēy- ("to want, desire"). Cognate with German laden ("to invite"), Icelandic laða ("to attract").
• From Middle English *lath, from Old English lǣþ ("a division of a county containing several hundreds, a district, lathe").
• From Middle English lath ("turning-lathe; stand"), from Old Norse hlað ("pile, heap")—compare dialectal Danish lad (as in drejelad, savelad), dialectal Norwegian la, lad, dialectal Swedish lad—from hlaða. More at lade.