Stratum

3 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Stratum \Stra"tum\, n.; pl. E. {Stratums}, L. {Strata}. The
     latter is more common. [L., from sternere, stratum, to
     spread; akin to Gr. ? to spread, strew. See {Strew}, and cf.
     {Consternation}, {Estrade}, {Prostrate}, {Stratus},
     {Street}.]
     1. (Geol.) A bed of earth or rock of one kind, formed by


        natural causes, and consisting usually of a series of
        layers, which form a rock as it lies between beds of other
        kinds. Also used figuratively.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     2. A bed or layer artificially made; a course.
        [1913 Webster]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  stratum
       n 1: one of several parallel layers of material arranged one on
            top of another (such as a layer of tissue or cells in an
            organism)
       2: 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" [syn: {level}, {layer}]
       [also: {strata} (pl)]

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

  83 Moby Thesaurus words for "stratum":
     Appleton layer, F layer, Heaviside-Kennelly layer, Van Allen belt,
     band, bed, bedding, belt, blood, bracket, branch, caste, category,
     chemosphere, clan, class, couche, course, deck, division, estate,
     floor, gallery, grade, group, grouping, head, heading, ionosphere,
     isothermal region, kin, label, layer, ledge, level,
     lower atmosphere, measures, order, outer atmosphere, overlayer,
     overstory, photosphere, pigeonhole, plane, position, predicament,
     race, rank, rating, rubric, seam, section, sept, set, shelf, stage,
     standing, station, status, step, story, strain, stratification,
     stratosphere, subdivision, subgroup, suborder, substratosphere,
     substratum, superstratum, table, thickness, tier, title, topsoil,
     tropopause, troposphere, underlayer, understory, understratum,
     upper atmosphere, vein, zone