layer Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun single thickness of usually some homogeneous substance
    bed.
    • slices of hard-boiled egg on a bed of spinach
  2. noun a relatively thin sheetlike expanse or region lying over or under another
  3. noun an abstract place usually conceived as having depth
    stratum; level.
    • a good actor communicates on several levels
    • a simile has at least two layers of meaning
    • the mind functions on many strata simultaneously
  4. noun a hen that lays eggs
  5. noun thin structure composed of a single thickness of cells
  6. verb make or form a layer
    • layer the different colored sands

WordNet

Lay"er noun
Etymology
See Lay to cause to lie flat.
Definitions
  1. One who, or that which, lays.
  2. Prob. a corruption of lair. 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.
  3. A shoot or twig of a plant, not detached from the stock, laid under ground for growth or propagation.
  4. An artificial oyster bed.

Webster 1913