layering

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
layer/ˈleɪə(r)/

▶noun

• 1 a sheet or thickness of material, typically one of several, covering a surface or body.

• 2 a person or thing that lays something.

• 3 a shoot fastened down to take root while attached to the parent plant.

▶verb (often as adj. layered)

• 1 arrange or cut in a layer or layers.

• 2 propagate (a plant) as a layer.

– origin ME (denoting a mason): from lay1 + -er1.