<B>lace, </B>noun, verb, <B>laced,</B> <B>lacing.</B><DL COMPACT><DD><I>noun </I> <B>1. </B>an open weaving or net of fine thread in an ornamental pattern. <DD><B> 2. </B>a cord, string, or leather strip passed through holes to pull or hold together the opposite edges of a shoe, garment, or the like. <BR> <I>Ex. These shoes need new laces.</I> <DD><B> 3. </B>gold or silver braid used for trimming. <BR> <I>Ex. Some uniforms have lace on them.</I> <DD><B> 4. </B>a dash of brandy, whiskey, or other liquor added to such beverages as coffee or tea. <DD><I>v.t. </I> <B>1. </B>to trim with lace. <BR> <I>Ex. the white-laced collar of a velvet dress.</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>to put laces through; pull or hold together with a lace or laces. <BR> <I>Ex. Lace your shoes.</I> <DD><B> 3. </B>to adorn or trim with narrow braid. <BR> <I>Ex. His uniform was laced with gold.</I> <DD><B> 4a. </B>to interlace; intertwine. <BR> <I>Ex. ... a black cotton laced with just enough orlon to keep it from wilting (New Yorker). ... his oral reports to the F.B.I. were laced with falsehoods (New York Times). Though only a story it is laced with many exciting facts about the Revolutionary War.</I> <DD><B> b. </B>to mix; blend (with). <BR> <I>Ex. ... found that sawdust laced with oatmeal makes a much better soil for mushroom farming (Scientific American).</I> <DD><B> 5. </B>to mark with streaks; streak. <BR> <I>Ex. a white petunia laced with purple. A waterfall of foam, lacing the black rocks with a thousand snowy streams (Charles Kingsley). Four-lane highways lace the island.</I> <DD><B> 6. </B>(Informal.) to lash; beat; thrash. <DD><B> 7. </B>to add a dash of brandy, whiskey, or other alcoholic liquor, to (a beverage, especially coffee). <BR> <I>Ex. Let's go drink a dish of laced coffee, and talk of the times (William Wycherley).</I> (SYN) flavor. <DD><B> 8. </B>to squeeze in the waist of (a person) by drawing the laces of a corset tight. (SYN) compress. <DD><B> 9. </B>to spread a network over or through. <BR> <I>Ex. If any nation were to begin lacing the earth's waters with ... bombs ... (New Yorker).</I> <DD><I>v.i. </I> to be laced. <BR> <I>Ex. These shoes lace easily.</I> <BR><I>expr. <B>lace into,</B> (Informal.) <DD><B> a. </B>to attack by striking again and again; lash. </I> <I>Ex. One of the two quarreling boys suddenly laced into the other, knocking him down.</I> <DD><B> b. </B>to criticize severely. <BR> <I>Ex. The coach laced into the team for not trying harder to win.</I> adj. <B>lacelike.</B> noun <B>lacer.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="lacebark">
<B>lacebark, </B>noun. <B>=lacewood.</B></DL>
<A NAME="lacebug">
<B>lacebug, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a sucking insect with lacelike markings on the body and wings. It sucks the juices of broadleaf evergreens. </DL>
<A NAME="lacecurtain">
<B>lace-curtain, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>fancy; pretentious. <BR> <I>Ex. Maybe if I describe the game in another, less lace-curtain, way it will be easier to see (Scientific American).</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>characteristic of the middle class, sometimes emphazing a pretentious but proper or genteel manner. <BR> <I>Ex. He is a man with a strong middle-class provincial, even, lace-curtain ... background (Harper's).</I> </DL>
<B>lace fern,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a small fern having the underside of the frond covered with matted wool. </DL>
<A NAME="laceflower">
<B>laceflower, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>a small, delicate blue flower of an Australian plant of the parsley family. <DD><B> 2. </B>the plant. </DL>
<A NAME="laceglass">
<B>lace glass,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a Venetian glass with white lacelike designs contained in the body of clear glass; latticinio. </DL>
<A NAME="laceleaf">
<B>laceleaf, </B>noun, pl. <B>-leaves.</B> <B>=latticeleaf.</B></DL>
<A NAME="laceless">
<B>laceless, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> without laces. <BR> <I>Ex. Loafers and most slippers are laceless shoes.</I> </DL>
<A NAME="lacemaking">
<B>lacemaking, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> the art or process of making lace. </DL>
<A NAME="lacepaper">
<B>lace paper,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> paper cut or stamped in imitation of lace. </DL>
<A NAME="lacepillow">
<B>lace pillow,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a round or oval board with a stuffed covering, held on the knees to support the fabric when making pillow lace. </DL>
<A NAME="lacerability">
<B>lacerability, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> the condition of being lacerable. </DL>
<A NAME="lacerable">
<B>lacerable, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> that can be lacerated. </DL>
<A NAME="lacerate">
<B>lacerate, </B>verb, <B>-ated,</B> <B>-ating,</B> adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>v.t. </I> <B>1. </B>to tear roughly; mangle. <BR> <I>Ex. The bear's claws lacerated the hunter's arm.</I> (SYN) rend, wound. <DD><B> 2. </B>(Figurative.) to cause pain or suffering to (the feelings, etc.); distress; hurt. <BR> <I>Ex. The coach's sharp words lacerated my feelings. The inscription on his tomb in Dublin's St. Patrick's says that "the body of Jonathan Swift is buried here, where fierce indignation ... can lacerate his heart no more" (Time).</I> (SYN) harrow, afflict. <DD><I>adj. </I> <B>1. </B>deeply or irregularly indented as if torn. <BR> <I>Ex. lacerate leaves.</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>torn; mangled. </DL>
<B>lacertilian, </B>adjective, noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>adj. </I> <B>1. </B>of or belonging to the lizards. Lacertilians are a suborder of reptiles that include the geckos, chameleons, and skinks. <DD><B> 2. </B>lizardlike. <DD><I>noun </I> a lizard or lizardlike reptile. </DL>
<A NAME="lacertine">
<B>lacertine, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B><B>=lacertilian.</B> <DD><B> 2. </B>consisting of intertwined or curving lizardlike forms in decorative work. </DL>
<A NAME="lacery">
<B>lacery, </B>noun, pl. <B>-eries.</B><DL COMPACT><DD> lacelike work. </DL>
<A NAME="lacewing">
<B>lacewing, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> an insect with four delicate, lacelike wings and prominent, golden-bronze eyes. Lacewings belong to the same order as the ant lions. </DL>
<A NAME="lacewood">
<B>lacewood, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> the fibrous bark of the currajong tree of Australia. </DL>
<A NAME="lacework">
<B>lacework, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B><B>=lace.</B> <DD><B> 2. </B>openwork like lace. <DD><B> 3. </B>(Figurative.) a network. <BR> <I>Ex. Saigon ... rests on a lacework of rivers and canals (Frances Fitzgerald).</I> </DL>
<B>lachenalia, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> any South African plant of a genus of the lily family, bearing yellow, bell-shaped flowers. </DL>
<A NAME="laches">
<B>laches, </B>noun, pl. <B>-laches.</B><DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>(Law.) failure to do a thing at the right time; delay in asserting a right, claiming a privilege, or applying for redress. <BR> <I>Ex. To decide whether the party applying has not, by laches of misconduct, lost his right to the writ (London Times).</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>inexcusable negligence. <BR> <I>Ex. We may visit on the laches of this ministry the introduction of that new principle and power ... Agitation (Benjamin Disraeli).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="lachesis">
<B>Lachesis, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> (Greek and Roman Mythology.) one of the three Fates. Lachesis measures off the thread of human life. </DL>
<A NAME="lachrymal">
<B>lachrymal, </B>adjective, noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>adj. </I> <B>1. </B>of tears; producing tears. <BR> <I>Ex. Mostly a salt solution, lachrymal fluid also contains substances that fight bacteria, and proteins that help make the eye immune to infection (G. W. Beadle).</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>for tears. <BR> <I>Ex. Collecting the drops of public sorrow into his volume, as into a lachrymal vase (Washington Irving).</I> <DD><B> 3. </B>(Anatomy.) lacrimal. <DD><I>noun </I> <B>=lachrymatory.</B> Also, <B>lacrimal,</B> <B>lacrymal.</B> <BR><I>expr. <B>lachrymals,</B> <DD><B> a. </B>lacrimal glands. <DD><B> b. </B>tears. </I> <I>Ex. Something else I said ... made her laugh in the midst of her lachrymals (Samuel Richardson).</I> </DL>
<B>lachrymation, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> the shedding of tears. Also, <B>lacrimation.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="lachrymator">
<B>lachrymator, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a substance that makes the eyes water, such as tear gas. Also, <B>lacrimator.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="lachrymatory">
<B>lachrymatory, </B>adjective, noun, pl. <B>-ries.</B><DL COMPACT><DD><I>adj. </I> <B>1. </B>of tears; producing tears. <DD><B> 2. </B>for tears. <DD><I>noun </I> a small vase with a narrow neck found in ancient Roman tombs and once believed to hold the tears of mourners. Also, <B>lacrimatory,</B> <B>lacrymatory.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="lachrymist">
<B>lachrymist, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> one who is addicted to tears; weeper. </DL>
<A NAME="lachrymose">
<B>lachrymose, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>given to shedding tears; tearful. <BR> <I>Ex. lachrymose depressions of spirit.</I> (SYN) weeping. <DD><B> 2. </B>suggestive of or tending to cause tears; mournful. <BR> <I>Ex. lachrymose poetry.</I> (SYN) maudlin, melancholy. adv. <B>lachrymosely.</B> </DL>
