abscission layer

Just who is crazy enough to go swimming when the pond across the street has a layer of ice across the top?
Diving Into 2015 With Polar Bear Plunge Extremists|James Joiner|January 1, 2015|DAILY BEAST
When summer comes, adult beetles attack and larva feed in the cambium layer, girdling the trees and sealing their doom.
What It Takes to Kill a Grizzly Bear|Doug Peacock|November 23, 2014|DAILY BEAST
After maybe an hour, the firefighters had cut through the last layer of a 4- by 8-foot area.
Rescue at One World Trade Center|Michael Daly|November 13, 2014|DAILY BEAST
These words take on a dark layer of irony given the charges facing her.
Colombian Beauty Queen Arrested for Running Child Prostitution Ring|Jason Batansky|October 17, 2014|DAILY BEAST

With each successive layer of networks, the U.S. became more potent.
Electricity Superhighway||October 16, 2014|DAILY BEAST
It separates into three layers upon standing—a brown deposit, a clear fluid, and a frothy layer.
A Manual of Clinical Diagnosis|James Campbell Todd
The upper surfaces of the boilers were covered with a layer of ashes for the same purpose.
Life of Richard Trevithick, Volume II (of 2)|Francis Trevithick
By the repetition of this process, a layer of several feet in thickness, of an excellent soil, is accumulated on the surface.
Elements of Agricultural Chemistry|Thomas Anderson
He was shot by a man of the 32d, and his body formed the lowermost layer of a causeway of corpses that soon choked the ditch.
The Red Year|Louis Tracy
Laura drew out the third drawerjust glancing at the top layer of papersand then the fourth and last.
The Girls of Central High on the Stage|Gertrude W. Morrison

British Dictionary definitions for abscission layer

abscission layer

noun

a layer of parenchyma cells that is formed at the bases of fruits, flowers, and leaves before abscission. As the parenchyma disintegrates, the organ becomes separated from the plant

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012