lath

noun

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.

   “"You are as thin as a lath and as brown as a nut."”

   “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 […].”

   “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.”

2. Microscopic, needle-like crystals, usually of plagioclase feldspar, in a glassy groundmass
3. 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.
4. (alt-of, alternative)Alternative form of lat (“staff; monumental pillar”).

verb

1. (transitive)To cover or line with laths.