layer

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   A single thickness of a material that covers a surface or lies between other things.

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

2. 2
   noun

   One level within something that has several parts arranged in order.

   The story is full of layers of meaning.

3. 3
   verb

   To arrange something in layers.

   Layer the potatoes and cheese in the dish before baking.

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…

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