layer
UK /ˈleɪ.ə/ · US /ˈleɪ̯ɚ/ noun, verb, proper noun
Forms layers layering layered
- 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.”
- noun An item of clothing worn under or over another. “It's cold now but it will warm up this afternoon. Make sure you wear layers.”
- noun A (usually) horizontal deposit; a stratum. “I find seven-layer cake a bit too rich.”
- noun One of the items in a hierarchy. “mired in layers of deceit”
- noun (computer graphics, by analogy to a stack of transparencies) One in a stack of (initially transparent) drawing surfaces that comprise an image; used to keep elements of an image separate so that they can be modified independently from one another.
- noun (networking) One of the seven network switch pieces in the Open Systems Interconnection model: application, presentation, session, transport, network, data link, and physical.
- noun (computing) An alternative keymap accessed through a modifier key or toggle.
- verb (ambitransitive) To cut or divide into layers.
- verb (ambitransitive) To arrange in layers. “Layer the ribbons on top of one another to make an attractive pattern.”
- noun A person who lays anything, such as tiles or a wager.
- 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.”
- noun A hen kept to lay eggs; a breed of chicken bred to maximize laying output. “We keep a flock of layers and flock of broilers.”
- noun A shoot of a plant, laid underground for growth.
- proper noun A surname.
Synonyms
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 fertilised by their waste. Related to lie, ledger.
From lay + -er.
Webster’s 1913
- noun One who, or that which, lays.
- noun 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.
Etymology [See Lay to cause to lie flat.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “layer”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details