layer

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

• noun One that lays.
• noun A hen kept for laying eggs.
• noun A single thickness of a material covering a surface or forming an overlying part or segment.
• noun A usually horizontal deposit or expanse; a stratum.
• noun A depth or level.
• noun Botany A stem that is covered with soil for rooting while still part of the living plant.
• noun An item of clothing worn over or under another.
• intransitive verb To divide or form into layers.
• intransitive verb To cut (hair) into different, usually overlapping lengths.
• intransitive verb Botany To propagate (a plant) by means of a layer.
• intransitive verb To wear (clothing) in layers.
• intransitive verb To form or come apart as layers.
• intransitive verb Botany To take root as a result of layering.

from The Century Dictionary.

• In horticulture, to propagate by bending the shoot of a living stem into the soil, the shoot striking root while still fed by the parent plant.
• noun One who or that which lays, in any sense of the verb lay: as, a brick layer; specifically, a hen that lays eggs: as, she is a good layer.
• noun A thickness of some material laid or resting upon or spread over a surface of any kind; a stratum of moderate thickness: as, a layer of paint; successive layers of clay, shale, and slate; a cake made in layers; the five layers of the muscles of the back.
• noun In masonry and bricklaying:
• noun Same as course, 16 .
• noun A bed of mortar or cement.
• noun In leather manufacturing, a welt or strengthening strip.
• noun A shoot or twig of a plant, not detached from the stock, partly laid under ground for growth or propagation.
• noun In tanning, a pit or vat containing a strong solution of tannin, in which hides are laid near the end of the tanning process. Also called bloomer-pit.
• noun In oyster culture, an artificial oyster-bed.
• noun In cattle-raising, a field or yard in which cattle ready for shipment are kept.
• noun In phytogeography, one of several strata of plants of different vegetation forms met with in some formations, especially in forests.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

• noun One who, or that which, lays.
• noun That which is laid; a stratum; a bed; one thickness, course, or fold laid over another
• noun A shoot or twig of a plant, not detached from the stock, laid under ground for growth or propagation.
• noun An artificial oyster bed.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

• noun A single thickness of some material covering a surface.
• noun A (usually) horizontal deposit; a stratum.
• noun A person who lays things, such as tiles.
• noun A mature female bird, insect, etc. that is able to lay eggs.
• noun A hen kept to lay eggs.
• noun A shoot of a plant, laid underground for growth.
• verb transitive, intransitive to cut or divide (something) into layers
• verb transitive, intransitive to arrange (something) in layers.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

• verb make or form a layer
• noun an abstract place usually conceived as having depth
• noun a hen that lays eggs
• noun thin structure composed of a single thickness of cells
• noun single thickness of usually some homogeneous substance
• noun a relatively thin sheetlike expanse or region lying over or under another