| The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000. |
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| lathe |
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| PRONUNCIATION: |  l th |
| NOUN: | A machine for shaping a piece of material, such as wood or metal, by rotating it rapidly along its axis while pressing against a fixed cutting or abrading tool. | | TRANSITIVE VERB: | Inflected forms: lathed, lath·ing, lathes
To cut or shape on a lathe. | | ETYMOLOGY: | Middle English, a device used by coopers, perhaps a turning lathe, probably of Scandinavian origin.
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| The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. Copyright © 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by the Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. |
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