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when due, or after the usual or proper time; not early; slow; tardy; long delayed; as, a late spring.

Belated; too late. [Obs.] Shak.

n the Mediterranean and adjacent waters, esp. on the northern coast of Africa. See below. Lateen sail. Etym: [F. voile latine a sail in the shape of a right- angled triangle; cf. It. & Sp. vela latina; properly Latin sail. See Latin.] (Naut.) A triangular sail, extended by a long yard, which is slung at about one fourt…

Not long ago; recently; as, he has lately arrived from Italy.

Latency. Coleridge.

The state or quality of being latent. To simplify the discussion, I shall distinguish three degrees of this latency. Sir W. Hamilton.

The state, condition, or quality, of being late; as, the lateness of his arrival; the lateness of the hour; the lateness of the season.

Not visible or apparent; hidden; springs of action. The evils latent in the most promising contrivances are provided for as they arise. Burke. Latent buds (bot.), buds which remain undeveloped or dormant for a long time, but may at length grow. Latent heat (Physics), that quantity of heat which disappears or becomes co…

In a secret or concealed manner; invisibly.

Compar. of Late, a. & adv.

Toward the side; away from the mesial plane; -- opposed to mesiad.

Of or pertaining to the sides; as, the lateral walls of a house; the lateral branches of a tree.

The state or condition of being lateral.

By the side; sidewise; toward, or from, the side.

The church and palace of St. John Lateran, the church being the cathedral church of Rome, and the highest in rank of all churches in the Catholic world.

Inclined to delay; dilatory. [Obs.] "When a man is too latered." Chaucer.

Growing from the stem by the side of a leaf; as, a laterifolious flower.

An argillaceous sandstone, of a red color, and much seamed; -- found in India.

consisting of, containing, or characterized by, laterite; as, lateritic formations.

Like bricks; of the color of red bricks. Lateritious sediment (Med.), a sediment in urine resembling brick dust, observed after the crises of fevers, and at the termination of gouty paroxysms. It usually consists of uric acid or urates with some coloring matter.