Word Study
layer
CIDE DICTIONARY
layer, n. [See Lay to cause to lie flat.].
- One who, or that which, lays. [1913 Webster]
- That which is laid; a stratum; a bed; one thickness, course, or fold laid over another; as, a layer of clay or of sand in the earth; a layer of bricks, or of plaster; the layers of an onion. [1913 Webster]
- A shoot or twig of a plant, not detached from the stock, laid under ground for growth or propagation. [1913 Webster]
- An artificial oyster bed. [1913 Webster]
OXFORD DICTIONARY
layer, n. & v.
--n.
1 a thickness of matter, esp. one of several, covering a surface.
2 a person or thing that lays.
3 a hen that lays eggs.
4 a shoot fastened down to take root while attached to the parent plant.
--v.tr.
1 a arrange in layers. b cut (hair) in layers.
2 propagate (a plant) as a layer.
--n.
1 a thickness of matter, esp. one of several, covering a surface.
2 a person or thing that lays.
3 a hen that lays eggs.
4 a shoot fastened down to take root while attached to the parent plant.
--v.tr.
1 a arrange in layers. b cut (hair) in layers.
2 propagate (a plant) as a layer.
Idiom
layer-out a person who prepares a corpse for burial.
Derivative
layered adj.
Etymology
ME f. LAY(1) + -ER(1)
THESAURUS
layer
Appleton layer, F layer, Heaviside-Kennelly layer, Van Allen belt, arrange in layers, belt, bookie, chemosphere, delaminate, desquamate, exfoliate, flake, ionosphere, isothermal region, laminate, lay down, lay up, lower atmosphere, outer atmosphere, photosphere, scale, stratify, stratosphere, stratum, substratosphere, tropopause, troposphere, upper atmosphereROGET THESAURUS
layer
Layer
N layer, stratum, strata, course, bed, zone, substratum, substrata, floor, flag, stage, story, tier, slab, escarpment, table, tablet, dess, flagstone, board, plank, trencher, platter, plate, lamina, lamella, sheet, foil, wafer, scale, flake, peel, coat, pellicle, membrane, film, leaf, slice, shive, cut, rasher, shaving, integument, eschar, stratification, scaliness, nest of boxes, coats of an onion, monolayer, bilayer, trilayer, lamellar, lamellated, lamelliform, layered, laminated, laminiferous, micaceous, schistose, schistous, scaly, filmy, membranous, pellicular, flaky, squamous, foliated, foliaceous, stratified, stratiform, tabular, discoid, spathic, spathose, trilamellar, graphitic.For further exploring for "layer" in Webster Dictionary Online