layer

Meaning

1. A single thickness of some material covering a surface.
2. A single thickness of some material covering a surface.
3. A (usually) horizontal deposit; a stratum.
4. One of the items in a hierarchy.
5. 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.
6. One of the seven network switch pieces in the Open Systems Interconnection model: application, presentation, session, transport, network, data link, and physical.

stratum

thick layer

physical layer

geological formation

paintcoat

map layer

egg-laying hen

stair step

stratum layer

welding layer

lode

Frequency

Pronounced as (IPA)

/lɛə/

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 the other word below that is also spelt layer. However, this word layer (referring to a thickness of a material covering a surface) has long 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.

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