I. lay ‧ er 1 S3 W3 AC /ˈleɪə $ -ər/ BrE AmE noun [countable]
[ Date: 1300-1400 ; Origin: ↑ lay 1 + -er ]
1 . an amount or piece of a material or substance that covers a surface or that is between two other things
layer of
A thick layer of dust lay on the furniture.
The moon was shining through a thin layer of cloud.
He pulled off layer upon layer of clothing (=many layers of clothing) .
in layers
Arrange the peppers, garlic and tomatoes in layers.
⇨ ↑ ozone layer
2 . one of several different levels in a complicated organization, system, set of ideas etc
layer of
We are operating with fewer layers of management.
There are multiple layers of meaning in the story.
the multi-layered nature of organizations (=they have many layers)
II. layer 2 AC BrE AmE verb [transitive]
1 . to make a layer of something or put something down in layers:
Layer the raw sliced vegetables in a shallow baking dish.
2 . to cut someone’s hair so that the hair on top is in shorter lengths than the lower hair:
I have layered, shoulder-length brown hair.