counterlath

from The Century Dictionary.

• noun A lath, used as a kind of furring, as where the lathing and plastering must be carried over broad surfaces of timber or other material and must be kept, away from it by the thickness of the counter-lath to allow the damp plaster to make a key between the laths.
• noun A lath used as a gage to fix the amount of separation between boards, laths, palings, or the like which are to be nailed fast with openings between them.
• In plastering, to furnish (a ceiling or wall) with counter-laths. See counter-lath, n.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

• noun A batten laid lengthwise between two rafters to afford a bearing for laths laid crosswise.
• noun Any lath laid without actual measurement between two gauged laths.
• noun Any of a series of laths nailed to the timbers to raise the sheet lathing above their surface to afford a key for plastering.
• noun One of many laths used in preparing one side of a partition or framed wall, when the other side has been covered in and finished.