Dictionary

lathery en · ADJ

Pronunciation

• (Southern-England) audio
• /ˈlæðəɹi/

Etymology

Etymology tree English lather Proto-Indo-European *-kos Proto-Germanic *-gaz Proto-West Germanic *-g Old English -iġ Middle English -y English -y English lathery From lather + -y.

Meanings

1. Resembling or covered in lather.
   • He cleaned up the basin and flushed the lathery, hairy bits of toilet paper down the water closet. 1957, James Agee, A Death in the Family, New York: Bantam, Part 1, Chapter 2, p. 26:
   • This new shaving cream isn't as lathery as the old stuff: there just aren't as many bubbles to be had.
   • “Oh, no!” said Bobbie, greatly shocked; “you don’t rub muslin. You put the boiled soap in the hot water and make it all frothy-lathery—and then you shake the muslin and squeeze it, ever so gently, and all the dirt comes out. […]” 1906, E. Nesbit, chapter 7, in The Railway Children:
   • 1824, James Atkinson, “Peer Mahommud; The Moralist,” stanza 51, in The City of Palaces, Calcutta: Government Gazette Press, p. 128, Thus rapidly my little tale advances, And now we come to him, who lives to shave! The lathery Knight of Razors, not of lances, And without question more a fool than knave.
   • They wash their clothes in running streams with lathery weeds—too poor to buy soap. 1931, Langston Hughes, “People without Shoes”, in I Wonder As I Wander, New York: Hill and Wang, published 1993, page 28:

Forms

Synonyms

frothy · foamy

Translations (5)

bg насапунисан (resembling or covered in lather) · sv löddrig (resembling or covered in lather) · de schäumend (resembling or covered in lather) · tr köpüklü (resembling or covered in lather) · de schaumig (resembling or covered in lather)