Definition of "lath" []

• A thin strip of wood or metal, usually nailed in rows to framing supports as a substructure for plaster, shingles, slates, or tiles. (noun)
• A building material, such as a sheet of metal mesh, used for similar purposes. (noun)
• A quantity of laths; lathing. (noun)
• Work made with or from lath. (noun)
• To build, cover, or line with laths. (verb-transitive)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "Pondicherry is about four leagues in extent; the houses are built with brick, but the Indians use only wood, in the manner which we call lath and plaster."
• "Why, tossing the remaining lath from the reno over the side of the deck, picking it up at the bottom, and loading it into garbage cans to take out to the bin, of course."
• "In traditional plaster over wire lath construction in the US there doesn't seem to be the concern, but this could be because the wire lath is probably galvanized, and there's three layers of plaster (scratch, brown, and finish coats) used."