lace meaning: definition, etymology and quotations

lace

noun

UK, US /leɪs/

Etymology From Middle English lace, laace, las, from Old French las, from Vulgar Latin *laceum, based on Latin laqueus. Doublet of lasso.

A light fabric containing patterns of holes, usually built up from a single thread.

c. 1620, Francis Bacon, letter of advice to Sir George Villiers Our English dames are much given to the wearing of very fine and costly laces.
She was a fat, round little woman, richly apparelled in velvet and lace, […]; and the way she laughed, cackling like a hen, the way she talked to the waiters and the maid,[…]—all these unexpected phenomena impelled one to hysterical mirth, and made one class her with such immortally ludicrous types as Ally Sloper, the Widow Twankey, or Miss Moucher.1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter II, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:

1 more example

Mind you, clothes were clothes in those days. […] Frills, ruffles, flounces, lace, complicated seams and gores: not only did they sweep the ground and have to be held up in one hand elegantly as you walked along, but they had little capes or coats or feather boas.1977, Agatha Christie, chapter 4, in An Autobiography, part II, London: Collins, →ISBN:

A cord or ribbon passed through eyelets in a shoe or garment, pulled tight and tied to fasten the shoe or garment firmly.

A snare or gin, especially one made of interwoven cords; a net.

The king had ſnared been in loues ſtrong lace, [...]1600, [Torquato Tasso], “The Second Booke of Godfrey of Bulloigne”, in Edward Fairefax [i.e., Edward Fairfax], transl., Godfrey of Bulloigne, or The Recouerie of Ierusalem. […], London: […] Ar[nold] Hatfield, for I[saac] Iaggard and M[atthew] Lownes, →OCLC, stanza 20, page 23:

Obsolete, Slang Spirits added to coffee or another beverage.

He is forced every Morning to drink his Dish of Coffee by itself, without the Addition of the Spectator, that used to be better than Lace to it.1711–1714, [Joseph Addison], The Spectator, number (please specify the issue number); republished in Alexander Chalmers, editor, The Spectator; a New Edition, […], volume (please either specify the issue number or |volume=I to VI), New York, N.Y.: D[aniel] Appleton & Company, 1853, →OCLC:

verb

Etymology From Middle English lacen, lasen, from Old French lacer, lacier, lasser, lachier, from the noun (see above).

8 senses

Ergative To fasten (something) with laces.

When Jenny's stays are newly laced.1718, Mat[thew] Prior, “Alma: Or, The Progress of the Mind”, in Poems on Several Occasions, London: […] Jacob Tonson […], and John Barber […], →OCLC:

To interweave items.

to lace one's fingers together
Now we plunged into a deep shade with the boughs lacing each other overhead, and crossed dainty, rustic bridges over the cold trout-streams, the boards giving back the clatter of our horses' feet: or anon we shot into a clearing, with a colored glimpse of the lake and its curving shore far below us.1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter VIII, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC:

2 more examples

The Gond […] picked up a trail of the Karela, the vine that bears the bitter wild gourd, and laced it to and fro across the temple door.1895 November, Rudyard Kipling, The Second Jungle Book, London; New York, N.Y.: Macmillan and Co., →OCLC:
Flanner's old-fashioned, staunch feminism runs throughout and laces together these letters.1986 April 12, Robin Lippincott, “Passionate Friendship, Old-fashioned Feminism”, in Gay Community News, page 14:

Cycling, Hobbies, Lifestyle, Sports To interweave the spokes of a bicycle wheel.

For these and other reasons, you may want to lace a new rim onto an existing hub, or vice versa. For some reason, probably because of the maze and complex angles of spokes, lacing and building a wheel has for years been a virtual mystery to even skilled home bike mechanics.1973 March 23, Eugene A. Sloane, “How to build and lace a bicycle wheel”, in Popular Mechanics, page 21:

To beat; to lash; to make stripes on.

I'll Lace your Coat for ye.1692, Roger L’Estrange, “ (please specify the fable number.) (please specify the name of the fable.)”, in Fables, of Æsop and Other Eminent Mythologists: […], London: […] R[ichard] Sare, […], →OCLC:

To adorn with narrow strips or braids of some decorative material.

cloth laced with silver
Under these windows, white and azure-laced1611 April (first recorded performance), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Cymbeline”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene ii]:

Figuratively To intersperse or diversify with something.

The throne speech opening the New Democrat government’s second legislative session Dec. 2 was a modest document featuring caution and pragmatism laced with a few tidbits of democratic socialism.1982 December 11, Frances Russell, “Economic performance buoys Pawley’s position”, in The Vancouver Sun (The Weekend Sun), Vancouver, BC, page A6:

To add alcohol, poison, a drug or anything else potentially harmful to (food or drink).

To cover intricately with bands, strips, or the like, so as to resemble lace.

The world we lived in was wide, and most of it was open to us with little trouble. Roads, railways, and shipping lines laced it, ready to carry one thousands of miles safely and in comfort.1951, John Wyndham, The Day of the Triffids, Harmondsworth: Penguin Books, published 1954, page 27:

Derived terms: 61 terms
Battenberg lace, belace, Binche lace, bobbin lace, bootlace, Cluny lace, enlace, fairy lace, golden lace, Honiton lace, inlace, interlace, laceability, laceable, laceback, lacebark, lace bug, lace cookie, laceflower*, lace into, lace job, laceleaf, laceless, lacelike, lace machine, lacemaker, lacemaking, laceman, lacepod, lacery, lace up, lace-up shoes, lace-ups, lacewear, laceweight, lacewing*, lacewoman, lacewomen, lacewood, lacework, laceworker, laceworks, lacy, Lille lace, Limerick lace, machine lace, manillese lace, mislace, necklace, needle lace, needlelace, overlace, pillow lace, relace, sandlace, sea lace, self-lacing, silver lace vine, staylace, tape lace, unlace