layer

name

1. A surname.

noun

Etymology: Etymology tree Old English læġ English lay English -er English layer From lay + -er.

1. 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.”

2. 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.”

   “When dealing with an infestation of headlice, the first step is to eliminate the layers.”

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

   ““Mrs. Boast can’t have got all these from one hatching,” [Ma] said. “I do believe there’s not more than two cockerels among them.” “The Boasts have got such a head-start with chickens, likely they’re planning to eat friers this summer,” said Pa. “It may be she took a few cockerels out of this flock, looking on them as meat.” “Yes, and replaced them with pullets that will be layers,” Ma guessed. “It would be Mrs. Boast all over. A more generous woman never lived.””

   “We keep a flock of layers and flock of broilers.”

4. A shoot of a plant, laid underground for growth.

verb

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.

1. To cut or divide into layers.
2. To arrange in layers.

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