lace

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English las (also laz, laas),^[2][3] borrowed from Anglo-Norman laz and Old French las (“net, noose, string”) (modern French lacs),^[4][5][6] from Vulgar Latin *lacium,^[3][6] from Latin laqueus (“noose, snare”), a trapping and hunting word.^[2][3] The verb, Middle English lacen, is from lacier (“to entwine, fasten with laces”), from laqueō (“to ensnare”).^[7][3][4] The same Latin noun gave Italian laccio and Spanish lazo, source of lasso.^[8][3][9] Many link laqueus with laciō (“to entice”),^[8][9][6] but according to Etymonline de Vaan rejects this on phonetic grounds and leaves the Latin word unexplained.^[3] Barnhart traces it to an Indo-European root meaning a sprig or string.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

A cord or string, especially a braided cord of silk or gold thread: about 1230, in Ancrene Riwle.^[4] The verb, to fasten with a cord, appears at the same time in the same text, perhaps slightly earlier.^[4][2]

Semantic evolution

The word's root sense was a noose or snare, and in Middle English lace could still be a net or snare, mostly figuratively, until about 1600.^[4][8] Trench quotes the Earl of Surrey being "tangled in the lace" of love.^[10] Its everyday sense, though, was a cord or tie, used of fishing lines, belts, crossbeams in a roof and even brooches.^[4][3] From the cord that draws the edges of a garment together came the lace of shoes and boots.^[4][8] In the 1540s it meant ornamental braid, still worn on uniforms as gold lace; from 1530 or the 1550s it meant the open patterned fabric of fine thread that became the word's main meaning.^[4][3][2] The idea of trimming or adding a finishing touch gave lace as a dash of spirits in coffee (1689), and the verb "to add liquor to a drink" from the 1670s; it was at first used of sugar too.^[4][3][11] A slang verb "to beat, thrash", from the streaks left by a lash, dates from the 1590s.^[3][12]

Timeline

• c. 1225 – verb, to fasten with a cord.^[4]
• c. 1230 – a cord or string.^[4]
• c. 1330 – a net or snare (obsolete by 1600).^[4]
• a1382 – a cord drawn through eyelets to close a garment.^[4]
• 1530 – an ornamental open fabric of thread.^[4]
• 1548 – ornamental braid, as on uniforms.^[4]
• 1590s – verb, to beat or thrash.^[3]
• 1689 – a dash of spirits added to coffee.^[4]
• 1804 – lacy.^[2]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A fine open fabric of cotton, silk or other thread, made by looping or twisting it into patterns.
2. A cord or string passed through holes or around hooks to fasten a shoe or garment; a shoelace.
3. Ornamental braid, especially on military uniforms: gold lace.
4. (dated) A dash of spirits added to a drink.

Verb

1. To fasten or tighten with a lace, often with up: she laced up her boots.
2. To pass a cord or thread through holes or eyelets.
3. To add a small amount of alcohol or another substance to a drink or food.
4. To intertwine or weave things together.

Word family

• lacer
• laced
• bootlace
• enlace
• interlace
• lacy
• shoelace

Related words

• lasso
• latch
• delight
• elicit

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
6. ^ a b c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ Gove, Philip Babcock, ed. (1961), Webster's Third New International Dictionary of the English Language, Unabridged, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam
8. ^ a b c d Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
9. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
10. ^ Trench, Richard Chenevix (1859), A Select Glossary of English Words Used Formerly in Senses Different from Their Present, London: John W. Parker
11. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
12. ^ Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com