Search the Dictionary

A lath; a shaving or chip, as of wood or stone. [Prov. Eng. & Scot.]

te of a body's motion, as the number of revolutions of a shaft in a given time. -- Speed lathe (Mach.), a power lathe with a rapidly revolving spindle, for turning small objects, for polishing, etc.; a hand lathe. -- Speed pulley, a cone pulley with steps.

y pressing against it with a smooth hand tool or roller while the metal revolves, as in a lathe. To spin a yarn (Naut.), to tell a story, esp. a long or fabulous tale. -- To spin hay (Mil.), to twist it into ropes for convenient carriage on an expedition. -- To spin street yarn, to gad about gossiping. [Collog.]…

The shaft, mandrel, or arbor, in a machine tool, as a lathe or drilling machine, etc., which causes the work to revolve, or carries a tool or center, etc.

An upright scanting, esp. one of the small uprights in the framing for lath and plaster partitions, and furring, and upon which the laths are nailed.

To admit or turn (anything) for the purpose of shaping it; -- said of a lathe; as, the lathe can swing a pulley of 12 inches diameter. To swing a door, gate, etc. (Carp.), to put it on hinges so that it can swing or turn.

ancing the lines of approach. -- Tail spindle, the spindle of the tailstock of a turning lathe; -- called also dead spindle. -- To turn tail, to run away; to flee. Would she turn tail to the heron, and fly quite out another way; but all was to return in a higher pitch. Sir P. Sidney.

The center in the spindle of a turning lathe.

The sliding block or support, in a lathe, which carries the dead spindle, or adjustable center. The headstock supports the live spindle.

A turner's lathe; a throwe. [Prov. Eng.]

A turning lathe. [Prov. Eng.]

A plant whose roots are fancied to resemble teeth, as certain plants of the genus Lathræa, and various species of Dentaria. See Coralwort.

Work turned on a lathe; turnery.[Obs.] See Turnery. Evelyn.

The part of a foot lathe, or other machine, which is pressed or moved by the foot.

To form in a lathe; to shape or fashion (anything) by applying a cutting tool to it while revolving; as, to turn the legs of stools or tables; to turn ivory or metal. I had rather hear a brazen canstick turned. Shak.

One who turns; especially, one whose occupation is to form articles with a lathe.

The art of fashioning solid bodies into cylindrical or other forms by means of a lathe.

Turnery, or the shaping of solid substances into various by means of a lathe and cutting tools.

g tool holder for bringing different tools into action successively in a machine, as in a lathe. -- Turret lathe, a turning lathe having a turret head. -- Turret ship, an ironclad war vessel, with low sides, on which heavy guns are mounted within one or more iron turrets, which may be rotated, so that the guns may be…

s; (universal negative) No men are omniscient. Universal chuck (Mach.), a chuck, as for a lathe, having jaws which can be moved simultaneously so as to grasp objects of various sizes. -- Universal church, the whole church of God in the world; the catholic church. See the Note under Catholic, a., 1. -- Universal coupl…