LATHER

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IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does lather mean? 

• LATHER (noun)
  The noun LATHER has 4 senses:

1. the froth produced by soaps or detergents

2. agitation resulting from active worry

3. a workman who puts up laths

4. the foam resulting from excessive sweating (as on a horse)

  Familiarity information: LATHER used as a noun is uncommon.

• LATHER (verb)
  The verb LATHER has 4 senses:

1. beat severely with a whip or rod

2. form a lather

3. exude sweat or lather

4. rub soap all over, usually with the purpose of cleaning

  Familiarity information: LATHER used as a verb is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• LATHER (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

The froth produced by soaps or detergents

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural objects (not man-made)

Synonyms:

lather; soapsuds; suds

Hypernyms ("lather" is a kind of...):

foam; froth (a mass of small bubbles formed in or on a liquid)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "lather"):

shaving cream; shaving soap (toiletry consisting of a preparation of soap and fatty acids that forms a rich lather for softening the beard before shaving)

Derivation:

lather (rub soap all over, usually with the purpose of cleaning)

lather (form a lather)

lathery (resembling lather or covered with lather)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Agitation resulting from active worry

Classified under:

Nouns denoting stable states of affairs

Synonyms:

fret; lather; stew; sweat; swither

Context example:

he's in a sweat about exams

Hypernyms ("lather" is a kind of...):

agitation (a mental state of extreme emotional disturbance)

Sense 3

Meaning:

A workman who puts up laths

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Hypernyms ("lather" is a kind of...):

working man; working person; workingman; workman (an employee who performs manual or industrial labor)

Sense 4

Meaning:

The foam resulting from excessive sweating (as on a horse)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural objects (not man-made)

Hypernyms ("lather" is a kind of...):

foam; froth (a mass of small bubbles formed in or on a liquid)

Derivation:

lather (rub soap all over, usually with the purpose of cleaning)

lather (form a lather)

• LATHER (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they lather    ... he / she / it lathers   
Past simple: lathered   
Past participle: lathered   
-ing form: lathering   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Beat severely with a whip or rod

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Synonyms:

flog; lash; lather; slash; strap; trounce; welt; whip

Context example:

The children were severely trounced

Hypernyms (to "lather" is one way to...):

beat; beat up; work over (give a beating to; subject to a beating, either as a punishment or as an act of aggression)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "lather"):

flagellate; scourge (whip)

leather (whip with a leather strap)

horsewhip (whip with a whip intended for horses)

switch (flog with or as if with a flexible rod)

cowhide (flog with a cowhide)

cat (beat with a cat-o'-nine-tails)

birch (whip with a birch twig)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s somebody

Sentence example:

They want to lather the prisoners

Sense 2

Meaning:

Form a lather

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Context example:

The shaving cream lathered

Hypernyms (to "lather" is one way to...):

effervesce; fizz; foam; form bubbles; froth; sparkle (become bubbly or frothy or foaming)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s

Derivation:

lather (the foam resulting from excessive sweating (as on a horse))

lather (the froth produced by soaps or detergents)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Exude sweat or lather

Classified under:

Verbs of grooming, dressing and bodily care

Context example:

this unfit horse lathers easily

Hypernyms (to "lather" is one way to...):

froth (exude or expel foam)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s

Sense 4

Meaning:

Rub soap all over, usually with the purpose of cleaning

Classified under:

Verbs of grooming, dressing and bodily care

Synonyms:

lather; soap

Hypernyms (to "lather" is one way to...):

clean; cleanse (clean one's body or parts thereof, as by washing)

"Lather" entails doing...:

lave; wash (cleanse (one's body) with soap and water)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s somebody

Sentence example:

Did he lather his foot?

Derivation:

lather (the foam resulting from excessive sweating (as on a horse))

lather (the froth produced by soaps or detergents)

 Context examples 

They’d been driving her hard, too, for she was all in a lather.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

He rose once to the surface in a lather of foam and blood and then sank again for good.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

I once prevailed on the barber to give me some of the suds or lather, out of which I picked forty or fifty of the strongest stumps of hair.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)

Taking out my handkerchief I wiped from his cheek the remains of the spot of dried lather that had worried me all the afternoon.

(The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald)

He had just shaved for there was a white spot of lather on his cheekbone and he was most respectful in his greeting to everyone in the room.

(The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald)