germ layer

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noun

one of the three primary embryonic cell layers.

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Compare ectoderm, endoderm, mesoderm.

Origin of germ layer

First recorded in 1875–80

Words nearby germ layer

germination, germinative, germinative layer, germinoma, Germiston, germ layer, germ line, germline insertion, germ membrane, germ plasm, germproof

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2021

How to use germ layer in a sentence

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
There was no doubt thought of his own loss in this question: yet there was, one may hope, a germ of solicitude for the mother too.
Children's Ways|James Sully
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
A germ flies from a stagnant pool, and the laughing child, its mother's darling, dies dreadfully of diphtheria.
God and my Neighbour|Robert Blatchford
Mr. William Aird, the germ-proof man, has been giving demonstrations in London.
Punch, or the London Charivari, Volume 158, April 28, 1920|Various
It is reported that last week a germ snapped at him and broke off two of its teeth.
Punch, or the London Charivari, Volume 158, April 28, 1920|Various

British Dictionary definitions for germ layer

germ layer

noun

embryol any of the three layers of cells formed during gastrulationSee ectoderm, mesoderm, endoderm

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

Medical definitions for germ layer

germ layer

Any of the three primary cellular layers, the ectoderm, endoderm, or mesoderm, into which most animal embryos differentiate and from which the organs and tissues of the body develop.

Scientific definitions for germ layer

germ layer

Any of three cellular layers, the ectoderm, endoderm, or mesoderm, into which most animal embryos differentiate in the gastrula stage and from which the organs and tissues of the body develop through further differentiation.