Lace Meaning
/leɪs/Definition, CEFR level C1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
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Definition
nounA light fabric containing patterns of holes, usually built up from a single thread.
nounA cord or ribbon passed through eyelets in a shoe or garment, pulled tight and tied to fasten the shoe or garment firmly.
Sentence Examples
Mary crochets lace every night.
Ireland is famous for lace.
I bought lace curtains for my bedroom window.
CEFR Practice Quiz
She tied the white ____ on her dress into a pretty bow.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
She wore a beautiful dress with white ____ trim to the formal wedding ceremony late last Saturday afternoon.
Word Origin & History
From Middle English lace, laace, las, from Old French las, from Vulgar Latin *laceum, based on Latin laqueus. Doublet of lasso.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"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 as Ally Sloper, the Widow Twankey, or Miss Moucher."
— 1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter II, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:
"Mind you, clothes were clothes in those days. […] Frills, ruffles, flounces, lace, complicated seams and gores: not only did they sweep the ground and have to be held up in one hand elegantly as you walked along, but they had little capes or coats or feather boas."
— 1977, Agatha Christie, chapter 4, in An Autobiography, part II, London: Collins, →ISBN:
"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] Hatfield, for I[saac] Iaggard and M[atthew] Lownes, →OCLC, stanza 20, page 23:
"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 issue number or |volume=I to VI), New York, N.Y.: D[aniel] Appleton & Company, 1853, →OCLC:
"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:
Explore More C1 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
She tied the white ____ on her dress into a pretty bow.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
She wore a beautiful dress with white ____ trim to the formal wedding ceremony late last Saturday afternoon.