LATHE • DICTIONARY ONE.COM • Definition of Lathe

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/leɪð/ Listen

noun

Lathe n. (Written also lath) Formerly, a part or division of a county among the Anglo-Saxons. At present it consists of four or five hundreds, and is confined to the county of Kent.

Lathe n.

1.

A granary; a barn. (Obs.)

2.

(Mach.) A machine for turning, that is, for shaping articles of wood, metal, or other material, by causing them to revolve while acted upon by a cutting tool.

3.

The movable swing frame of a loom, carrying the reed for separating the warp threads and beating up the weft; called also lay and batten.

Blanchard lathe, a lathe for turning irregular forms after a given pattern, as lasts, gunstocks, and the like.

Drill lathe, or Speed lathe, a small lathe which, from its high speed, is adapted for drilling; a hand lathe.

Engine lathe, a turning lathe in which the cutting tool has an automatic feed; used chiefly for turning and boring metals, cutting screws, etc.

Foot lathe, a lathe which is driven by a treadle worked by the foot.

Geometric lathe. See under Geometric

Hand lathe, a lathe operated by hand; a power turning lathe without an automatic feed for the tool.

Slide lathe, an engine lathe.

Throw lathe, a small lathe worked by one hand, while the cutting tool is held in the other.

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Etymology of 'Lathe'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Lathe" Quotes from Famous Books

... stock of tools. Jimmy's father had made them a wooden form on which to wind the wire. This core was nothing but a plain cylinder of wood, about three inches in diameter and ten inches long. For Christmas, the year before, Mr. Layton had given Bob a small but accurately made bench lathe, operated by a foot pedal, and Bob mounted the roller between the lathe centers, holding one end in the chuck jaws. Then he produced a narrow roll of stout wrapping paper, such as is used for winding around automobile tires, and ...

— The Radio Boys' First Wireless - Or Winning the Ferberton Prize • Allen Chapman

... gnarled apple trees on the slope until she came insight of a little white building beside the brook. The weathervane perched on the gable, and veering in the wet breeze, seemed like a live fish swimming in its own element; and through the open window she saw Insall bending over a lathe, from which the chips were flying. She hesitated. Then he looked up, and seeing her, reached above his head to pull the lever ...

— The Crossing • Winston Churchill

... this accidental experiment set me on trying my skill in the mechanical arts. Accordingly I took down and cleaned my landlady's cuckoo-clock, and in so doing, silenced that companion of the spring for ever and a day. I mounted a turning-lathe, and in attempting to use it, I very nearly cribbed off, with an inch-and-half former, one of the fingers which the hussar ...

— The Monastery • Sir Walter Scott

... cylinder, and a piece is then to be cut out, so that when the ends are brought together the ring will just enter within the cylinder. The ring, while retained in a state of compression, is then to be put in the lathe and turned very truly, and finally it is to be hammered on the inside with the small end of the hammer, to expand the metal, and ...

— A Catechism of the Steam Engine • John Bourne

... of the roughest. Some old files, softened in the fire, and filed into grooves something like saw-teeth, are most used; but old knives, sail-needles, and chisels are pressed into service. The work turned out would, in many cases, take a very high place in an exhibition of turnery, though never a lathe was near it. Of course, a long time is taken over it, especially the polishing, which is done with oil and whiting, if it can be got—powdered pumice if it cannot. I once had an elaborate pastry-cutter carved out of six whale's teeth, which ...

— The Cruise of the Cachalot - Round the World After Sperm Whales • Frank T. Bullen

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