LATHE  . (r) A

mechanical appliance in which material is held and rotated against a tool for cutting, scraping, polishing or other purpose (see Tools) . This word is of obscure origin . It may be a modified form of " lath," for in an early form of lathe the rotation is given by a treadle or spring lath attached to the ceiling . The New English Dictionary points out a possible source of the word in Dan. lad, meaning apparently a supporting framework, found in the name of the turning-lathe, drejelad, and also in savelad, saw-bench, vaeverlad, loom, &c . (2) One of five, formerly six, districts containing three or more hundreds, into which the county of Kent was divided . Though the division survives, it no longer serves any administrative purpose . It was formerly a judicial division, the court of the lathe being superior to that of the hundred . In this it differs from the rape (q.v.) of Sussex, which was a geographical rather than an administrative division . In O . Eng. the word was lae', the origin of which is doubtful . The New English Dictionary considers it almost certainly identical with O .

Norse lad, landed possessions, territory, with a possible association in meaning with such words as leid', court, mhtlaea6a, attendance at a

meeting or moot, or with Mod . Dan. laegd, a division of the country for military purposes .