lace

UK/leɪs/

lace noun: a light fabric containing patterns of holes, usually built up from a single thread.

Image: Encyclopædia Britannica, 1911, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Noun

lace (countable and uncountable, plural laces)

(uncountable) A light fabric containing patterns of holes, usually built up from a single thread.
- Our English dames are much given to the wearing of very fine and costly laces.c. 1620, Francis Bacon, letter of advice to Sir George Villiers
- 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...1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter II, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC
(countable) A cord or ribbon passed through eyelets in a shoe or garment, pulled tight and tied to fasten the shoe or garment firmly.
- your laces are untied, do them up!
Synonyms:

shoelace, tie
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]...
(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...

Verb

lace (third-person singular simple present laces, present participle lacing, simple past and past participle laced)

(ergative, transitive) 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
(transitive) 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
Synonyms:

entwine, interlace, interweave, betwine, braid, entwist, interthread, intertwine, intertwist, lock
(transitive) 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, Eugene A. Sloane, “How to build and lace a bicycle wheel”, in Popular Mechanics, page 21
(transitive) 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
(transitive) 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...
(figuratively, transitive) 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
(transitive) To add alcohol, poison, a drug or anything else potentially harmful to (food or drink).
(transitive) To cover intricately with bands, strips, or the like, so as to resemble a 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

lace meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu

lace in Hindi

lace; shoelace: फ़ीता fītā
lace: लैस lais

lace in Tamil

இழை வார், இழையிடு, கட்டு, பின்னல், பின்னு, பின்னற்பட்டி

lace in Marathi

फीता, फीत, फिती लावणे

lace in Urdu

فیتہ, گوٹا کناری, جھالر, تسمہ

More languagesFewer languages

lace in Bengali: ফিতা phita
lace in Telugu: జరీ jarī, జరి jari
lace in Malayalam: റേന്ത, ചിത്രപ്പിന്നൽക്കര, നാട, ചരട്
lace in Kannada: ಹಗ್ಗ, ಹೆಣಿಗೆ ಪಟ್ಟಿ, ಕಲಾಪತ್ತು, ಸರಿಗೆ
lace in Punjabi: ਫ਼ੀਤਾ fītā, ਤਸਮਾ tasmā
lace in Gujarati: ફીતા, ફીત
lace in Assamese: পটি poti
lace in Nepali: फीता, फीतामा
lace in Tagalog: gayas
lace in Arabic: دَانْتِيل dāntīl, شَدَّ šadda, دَمَجَ damaja, رَبَطَ rabaṭa
lace in Malay: renda, les
lace in Persian: گیپور gipur, دانتل dântel
lace in Thai: ลูกไม้ lûuk-máai
lace in Vietnamese: đăng ten
lace in Myanmar: ဇာ ja

Examples of lace in a sentence

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:

All 40 example sentences with lace

Synonyms of lace

6 more synonymsFewer synonyms

All synonyms of lace

Forms of lace

Noun
plural	laces
Verb
third-person singular present	laces
present participle	lacing
past participle	laced
past	laced

Past tense of lace: laced

Plural of lace: laces

Origin of lace

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

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

Words formed from lace

Words that rhyme with lace

45 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about lace

What does lace mean?: Lace means a light fabric containing patterns of holes, usually built up from a single thread.
What is lace in Hindi?: Lace in Hindi is फ़ीता (fītā), लैस (lais). See Lace meaning in Hindi.
How do you use lace in a sentence?: 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.
What part of speech is lace?: Lace can be a noun or a verb.
How do you pronounce lace?: Lace is pronounced /leɪs/ (UK).
What is the plural of lace?: The plural of lace is laces.

Words near lace in the dictionary

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-lace.ogg.

Cite this entry: “lace.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/lace. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.