Link Centre Dictionary

layer

UK/ˈleɪ.ə/ US/ˈleɪ.ɚ/ fairly common
noun (5) verb (1)

noun

1.

single thickness of usually some homogeneous substance

  • “slices of hard-boiled egg on a bed of spinach”
Synonyms
2.

a relatively thin sheetlike expanse or region lying over or under another

3.

an abstract place usually conceived as having depth

  • “a good actor communicates on several levels”
  • “a simile has at least two layers of meaning”
  • “the mind functions on many strata simultaneously”
Synonyms
4.

a hen that lays eggs

5.

verb

1.

make or form a layer

  • “layer the different colored sands”

Origin

Appears at first glance to be from Middle English leyer, leyare (“a layer of stones or bricks”), equivalent to lay + -er. In which case, ultimately identical to etymology 2 below. For the pronunciation compare prayer. However, this word layer (referring to a thickness of a material covering a surface) has also been argued to be from a respelling of an obsolete sense of the word lair that was once used by farmers, which had to do with soil. The connecting sense between the usual meaning of lair and the specialised farming meaning was: an area where cows typically rest, the ground being fertilised by their waste. Related to lie, ledger.

Phrases

  • absciss layer
  • abscission layer
  • alpha layer
  • basal layer
  • boundary layer
  • creamy layer
  • Crookes layer
  • deep scattering layer
  • net layer

Related words

Word family

Broader terms

Narrower terms

Parts

WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.