layer

Plurallayers

Formslayers, layering, layered

1. 1
   nouncountable

   A single thickness of material spread over or covering a surface.

   A fresh layer of paint made the old fence look new.

   The cake had a layer of cream between the two sponges.

   Similarcoat, coating, film, sheet, covering

   Note

   Behind coats of paint and sheets of foil sits a builder's word. Middle English leyer meant a course of stones or bricks, and it seems to be simply lay plus -er. That would make it, at root, the same formation as the noun for one who lays. For the pronunciation, compare prayer.

2. 2
   nouncountable

   A horizontal band of deposited material, such as a bed of rock or soil; a stratum.

   Geologists identified a layer of volcanic ash between the limestone beds.

   A thick layer of sediment built up over thousands of years.

   Similarstratum, bed, seam, band

   Note

   Where a geologist might write stratum, layer is the everyday word, and it travels beyond rock: a seven-layer cake is built on the same idea of stacked deposits. Chinle Miller's In Mesozoic Lands (2012) shows the classic scene. Erosion exposes the underlying layers, revealing the story of the rocks "like an open book."

3. 3
   nouncountable

   One of the levels within a hierarchy or ordered system.

   Every layer of bureaucracy slows the approval process further.

   The security system relies on several layers working together.

   Similarlevel, tier

   Note

   The idea of stacked levels works two ways. Figuratively, layers pile up as obstacles: someone can be mired in layers of deceit or bureaucracy. In software design they are deliberate tiers, as in the C/C++ Users Journal of 2001, where a number cruncher sits right above the database access layer and forwards results upward.

4. 4
   nouncountable

   A garment worn under or over another item of clothing.

   In winter she wears three layers to stay warm on her walk.

   A light layer under your coat makes a big difference outdoors.

   Note

   In the plural it often stands alone as advice. To wear layers means dressing in several garments that can come off as the day warms, without naming any of them. The word describes a strategy more than a particular piece of clothing.

5. 5
   verbtransitive or intransitive

   To arrange or stack something in layers.

   The chef layered thin sheets of pasta with rich sauce.

   You can layer different fabrics to create a richer texture.

   Similarstack

6. 6
   verbtransitive or intransitive

   To cut or divide something into layers.

   The baker layered the sponge into three even rounds.

   Carefully layer the clay block before shaping each piece.

   Similarsplit, slice

   Note

   Two verbs share this form and pull in opposite directions. This one splits a whole into layers, while the stacking verb builds layers up from separate pieces. Context settles which is meant: a baker who layers a sponge is slicing it, but a cook who layers pasta and sauce is assembling. Both verbs work with or without an object.

7. 7
   nouncountable

   One of a stack of transparent drawing surfaces making up a digital image, letting each element be edited independently of the others.

   She painted the shadows on a separate layer so she could adjust them later.

   Merging the layers flattened the file and saved space.

   Note

   A digital borrowing from the light table. The term comes by analogy with a stack of transparencies, each sheet carrying one part of the picture. Because a layer starts out clear, whatever sits on it can be edited, reordered or blended without disturbing the rest. Merging layers gives up that independence in exchange for a single flat image.

8. 8
   USLAY-ur/ˈleɪ.ɚ/UKUKLAY-uh/ˈleɪ.ə/US

   nouncountable

   A hen kept for egg production, or a chicken breed developed to maximize egg-laying output.

   Each layer in the flock produces around 300 eggs a year.

   Commercial layers are usually housed separately from birds raised for meat.

   Note

   Farm talk sorts chickens by purpose: layers for eggs, broilers for meat, so a farm might keep a flock of each. Laura Ingalls Wilder's Little Town on the Prairie (1941) shows the same reckoning. There, a hatching with hardly any cockerels prompts talk of which birds will become layers and which will be eaten as friers.

9. 9
   USLAY-ur/ˈleɪ.ɚ/UKUKLAY-uh/ˈleɪ.ə/US

   nouncountable

   A mature female bird, insect, or similar animal capable of laying eggs.

   Among many insects, a single dominant layer sustains the whole group.

   Biologists tracked each layer to count how many of its eggs survived.

   Note

   Here lay + -er names an animal by what it does: any mature female that produces eggs, not only a hen. A poultry keeper praises a productive bird as a prime layer, but the word reaches well past the farmyard. Getting rid of the layers is the first step against headlice, because they are the ones that keep an infestation going. The farm bird kept or bred for eggs has its own narrower meaning.

10. 10
    nouncountable

    One of the seven divisions of the Open Systems Interconnection model, ranging from the physical level up to the application level.

    The transport layer ensures that data arrives complete and in order.

    Errors at the physical layer often appear as dropped connections higher up.

    Note

    Networking stacks its layers from the wire upward: physical, data link, network, transport, session, presentation, application. Each one serves the layer above and relies on the one below. That is why a fault at the bottom can surface as trouble at the top. The word rarely stands alone here; it follows a name, as in the transport layer or the data link layer.

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