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▪ I. lather, n.|ˈlæðə(r), ˈlɑːðə(r)| Also 1 léaðor, 7 ladder, lavour. [OE. léaðor str. neut. = ON. lauðr washing soda, foam (Sw. lodder soap):—OTeut. type *lauþrom:—pre-Teut. *loutrom (= Gr. λοετρόν, λουτρόν bath, Irish loathar washing vessel), f. root *lou- to wash (= L. lavāre) + -tro- instrumental suffix.] 1. †a. (OE. only.) Washing soda. b. A froth or foam made by the agitation of a mixture of soap and water.
c1000Sax. Leechd. III. 2 Leᵹe on clað gnid in wæter gnid swiðe þæt heo sy eall ᵹeleðred þweah mid þy leaðre þæt heafod ᵹelome. c1050Voc. in Wr.-Wülcker 455/8 Nitria, þæt is of leaðre. Ibid. 456/14 Nitrum, leaðor. 1583Stubbes Anat. Abus. ii. (1882) 50 Then shall your mouth be bossed with the lather..(for they haue their sweete balles wherewith-all they vse to washe). 1669W. Simpson Hydrol. Chym. 335, I ordered the maid to put some of the usual soap thereto..and it made a very good lather (as they call it). 1677Compl. Servant Maid 64 Wash them very well in three Ladders. 1799G. Smith Laboratory I. 392 Take scalding hot water, and..with Newcastle soap beat and work up a clear lather. 1815Scott Let. to Dk. Buccleuch Dec. in Lockhart, It looked like a shaving-brush, and the goblet might be intended to make the lather. 1873E. Smith Foods 279 Hard water..prevents the formation of a lather, until a large quantity of soap has been added. 1926Fowler Mod. Eng. Usage 315/2 Though lah′dher is often heard, lather apparently does not belong to the class of words in which ah & ă are merely southern & northern variants (pass &c.). 1968New Society 22 Aug. 266/1 Lather: non-U to rhyme with ‘father’ (invariable in television advertisements)/U to rhyme with ‘gather’. fig.1725Bailey Erasm. Colloq. 570 Such as by the Lather of Tears, and Soap of Repentance..have washed away their Pollutions. 1940L. MacNeice Last Ditch 10 The sky is a lather of stars. c. transf. Violent perspiration, esp. the frothy sweat of a horse.
1660F. Brooke tr. Le Blanc's Trav. 143, I could not possibly bring forth a word..being all in a lavour with agony and distresse. 1828in Webster. 1837Mrs. Sherwood H. Milner iii. v, Miss Bell had already exercised her [a mare] so well, that, to use a jockey term, she was all in a lather. 1883E. Pennell-Elmhirst Cream Leicestersh. 238 The mare..was covered with lather. d. transf. A state of agitation, anxiety, irritation, or the like, such as induces sweat. (Cf. quot. 1660 in sense c.)
1839F. Trollope Fragment in Dom. Manners Amer. (ed. 5) 271 Don't be in a lather, father, before you are shaved. I'll do your job, I expect, if you won't be in such a tarnation fuss. 1892Kipling Lett. of Travel (1920) 99 Forced inaction frets the man to a lather. 1931V. Woolf Waves 273, I arrived all in a lather at her house..but did not marry her, being..unripe for that intensity.
1945E. S. Gardner Case of Gold-Digger's Purse (1949) v. 44 You're standing there in a lather of indecision. 1948‘J. Tey’ Franchise Affair xvi. 181, I suppose Christina is in the usual lather of sentiment? 1970Daily Tel. 24 Sept. 4/8, I can't work myself up into a middle aged lather over long hair. 2. The action of lathering or applying lather to.
1626Middleton Women Beware W. ii. ii, She'd..sponge up herself, And give her neck three lathers. 3. attrib. and Comb., as lather-bowl; lather-dried, lather-making adjs.; lather-boy, a boy employed in a barber's shop to lather the chins of customers.
1856R. W. Procter Barber's Shop xxi. (1883) 216 A *lather bowl.
1898Daily News 9 Dec. 5/7 They were ‘*lather boys to a barber’.
1852R. S. Surtees Sponge's Sp. Tour (1893) 294 Reining in the now *lather-dried brown.
c1611Chapman Iliad xi. 370 His *lather-making jaws. ▪ II. lather, v.|ˈlæðə(r), ˈlɑːðə(r)| Forms: 1 (ᵹe)léðran, líðrian, 3 leþere, liðere, 5 lathere, 6– lather, 7 ladder, laver (in lavering ppl. adj.). [OE. *líeðran, léðran, corresponds to ON. løyðra:—OTeut. *lauþrjan, f. *lauþrom: see lather n.1 From the 16th c. the word has been assimilated in form to the n.; cf. Icel. lauðra.] 1. a. trans. To cover with or as with a lather; to wash in or with a lather. Also fig.
c950Lindisf. Gosp. John xi. 2 Maria uutudlice wæs ðio ᵹeðuoᵹ vel smiride vel leðrede ðone drihten mið smirinise. c1000Sax. Leechd. II. 124 Lyþre mid sapan. c1000[see lather n. 1 a]. 1654Gayton Pleas. Notes ii. i. 33 Their Horses..by excessive heats, continuall evaporations, and sweats..were laundred and ladder'd. 1713Addison Guardian No. 71 ⁋4 He would rub and lather a man's head, till he had got out every thing that was in it. 1715tr. Pancirollus' Rerum Mem. I. i. iv. 12 Cleaner and brighter, than if it had been..lather'd with a Wash-ball. 1748Smollett Rod. Rand. viii. (1804) 36 He lathered my face. 1851D. Jerrold St. Giles xxiii. 235 The self-same brush that had lathered the beard of that very vulgar man. 1862Geo. Eliot Romola xvi, Nello skipped round him, lathered him, seized him by the nose, and scraped him. 1917P. Gibbs Battles of Somme 171 The enemy was ‘lathering’ the field of observation with every kind of ‘crump’ and shell. Proverb.1860Hughes Tom Brown at Oxf. xxiii, 'Twas waste of soap to lather an ass. †b. absol. or intr. Obs. rare.
c1430Pilgr. Lyf Manhode i. lii. (1869) 32 And for that j kan so wel wasshe, so wel lathere..hath god maad me his chambrere. 1630J. Taylor (Water P.) Praise Cleane Linnen Wks. ii. 169/1 For Laundresses are testy..When they are lathering in their bumble broth. †c. intr. in quasi-passive sense.
1691Phil. Trans. XVII. 532 [They] put them over a Fire till they are more than Blood-warm; which will make them [skins] ladder and scour perfectly clean. 2. intr. To become covered with foam; now chiefly of a horse.
a1225Juliana 16 And beten hire swa luðere þat hire leofliche lich liðeri al oblode. [Similarly a 1225 Leg. Kath. 1554.] a1225St. Marher. 5 Hit brek oueral ant litherde o blode. c1275Lay. 7489 He swang in þan fihte þat he leþerede [c 1205 lauede] a swote. 1884St. James's Gaz. 1 May 7/1 Harvester..lathered a good deal before being saddled. 3. To produce and form a lather or froth. Said esp. of water when mixed with soap; also of soap.
1608R. Armin Nest Ninn. (1842) 21 The trotting of this mule made the mingled confection lather. 1677Plot Oxfordsh. 36 Water..such as..would lather well. 1715Gay Ep. to Earl Burlington 106 Our shirts her busy fingers rub, While the sope lathers oer the foaming tub. 1789G. White Selborne i. 3 A fine limpid water..but which does not lather well with soap. 1795R. Kirwan Elem. Min. (ed. 2) I. 189 It [indurated lithomarga] does not lather, yet is detersive. 4. trans. To spread on like lather.
1885Manch. Exam. 10 Feb. 5/3 In other pictures coarse yellow paint appears to have been lathered on with a trowel. 5. To beat, thrash. Also intr. with into. Also fig.
1797Sporting Mag. X. 320 He was so well lathered that he was near his end. 1850P. Crook War of Hats 54 The uxorious cleric too was..lathered with a cane. 1886Maxwell Gray Silence Dean Maitland I. v. 129 He was a latherin' into Hotspur [a horse] like mad. Hence ˈlathered ppl. a., ˈlathering ppl. a. Also ˈlatherer.
1630J. Taylor (Water P.) Praise Cleane Linnen Ded., Wks. ii. 164 Not doubting but the lathering suds of your lennitie will wash away all such faults. 1647H. More Insomn. Philos. i. 178 Her curbed steeds foaming out lavering tarre. 1814Southey Carmina Aulica Poet. Wks. III. 315 When at the looking-glass with lather'd chin..I sit. 1863Geo. Eliot Romola xvi, The doctor had his lathered face turned towards the group. 1899Westm. Gaz. 18 May 2/3 Boys employed as latherers in barbers' shops. ▪ III. lather obs. form of leather. |