1.  layer(n = noun.artifact) bed - single thickness of usually some homogeneous substance; "slices of hard-boiled egg on a bed of spinach"
is a kind of artefact, artifact
is a part of laminate
has particulars: backing, mount, blanket, course, row, cushion, interlayer, lift, overlay, ply, tier, wall
Derived form verb layer₁

2.  layer(n = noun.location) Array - a relatively thin sheetlike expanse or region lying over or under another; Array
is a kind of part, region
has particulars: stratum, asthenosphere, chromosphere, crust, earth's crust, exosphere, hydrosphere, geosphere, lithosphere, lower mantle, mantle, mesosphere, ozone layer, ozonosphere, stratosphere, earth's surface, surface, thermosphere, tropopause, troposphere, upper mantle, cell wall, snow
Derived form verb layer₁

3.  layer(n = noun.cognition) level, stratum - an abstract place usually conceived as having depth; "a good actor communicates on several levels"; "a simile has at least two layers of meaning"; "the mind functions on many strata simultaneously"
is a kind of place
Derived form verb layer₁

4.  layer(n = noun.animal) Array - a hen that lays eggs; Array
is a kind of biddy, hen
Derived form verb lay₄

5.  layer(n = noun.animal) Array - thin structure composed of a single thickness of cells; Array
is a kind of anatomical structure, bodily structure, body structure, complex body part, structure
has particulars: blastoderm, blastodisc, germinal area, germinal disc, hypodermis
Derived form verb layer₁

   layer(v = verb.contact) Array - make or form a layer; "layer the different colored sands"
is one way to forge, form, mold, mould, shape, work
Derived forms noun layer₅, noun layer₁, noun layer₃, noun layer₂
Sample sentences: Somebody ----s; Somebody ----s something; Something ----s something

1.  One who, or that which, lays. [1913 Webster]

2.  That which is laid; a stratum; a bed; one thickness, course, or fold laid over another; as, a layer of clay or of sand in the earth; a layer of bricks, or of plaster; the layers of an onion. [1913 Webster]

3.  A shoot or twig of a plant, not detached from the stock, laid under ground for growth or propagation. [1913 Webster]

4.  An artificial oyster bed. [1913 Webster]

layer, n. & v.
--n.
1 a thickness of matter, esp. one of several, covering a surface.
2 a person or thing that lays.
3 a hen that lays eggs.
4 a shoot fastened down to take root while attached to the parent plant.
--v.tr.
1 a arrange in layers. b cut (hair) in layers.
2 propagate (a plant) as a layer.

Idiom:
layer-out a person who prepares a corpse for burial.

Derivative:
layered adj.

Etymology:
ME f. LAY(1) + -ER(1)

N  layer, stratum, strata, course, bed, zone, substratum, substrata, floor, flag, stage, story, tier, slab, escarpment, table, tablet, dess, flagstone, board, plank, trencher, platter, plate, lamina, lamella, sheet, foil, wafer, scale, flake, peel, coat, pellicle, membrane, film, leaf, slice, shive, cut, rasher, shaving, integument, eschar, stratification, scaliness, nest of boxes, coats of an onion, monolayer, bilayer, trilayer, lamellar, lamellated, lamelliform, layered, laminated, laminiferous, micaceous, schistose, schistous, scaly, filmy, membranous, pellicular, flaky, squamous, foliated, foliaceous, stratified, stratiform, tabular, discoid, spathic, spathose, trilamellar, graphitic.

appleton layer, boundary layer, conjunctival layer of bulb, conjunctival layer of eyelids, e layer, f layer, germ layer, heaviside layer, horny layer, kennelly-heaviside layer, layer cake, malpighian layer, ozone layer, pipe layer, tissue layer