layer

Meanings

1. 1
   verb

   make or form a layer

   layer the different colored sands

2. 2
   noun

   A single thickness of some material covering a surface.

   Wrap the loaf in two layers of aluminum foil before putting it in the oven.

3. 3
   noun

   A (usually) horizontal deposit; a stratum.

   I find seven-layer cake a bit too rich.

4. 4
   noun

   One of the items in a hierarchy.

   mired in layers of deceit

5. 5
   verb

   To arrange in layers.

   Layer the ribbons on top of one another to make an attractive pattern.

6. 6
   noun

   A person who lays anything, such as tiles or a wager.

   If fortune ever favoured any venturesome layer of bets, Tom Elliot was certainly the one that day.

7. 7
   noun

   A mature female bird, insect, etc. that is able to lay eggs.

   As for which hen we'll cull for next Sunday's dinner, we certainly won't eat Henrietta yet — she's still a prime layer.

8. 8
   noun

   thin structure composed of a single thickness of cells

Etymology

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 fertilis…