layer cake
Americannoun
noun
Etymology
Origin of layer cake
First recorded in 1875–80
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
In the financial economy, leverage is high with a layer cake of debt at the investor, fund, instrument and underlying investment level.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 9, 2026
The “How to” sections on such topics as infusing butter, dehydrating fruit and assembling a layer cake are helpful supplements to the book’s occasionally complex recipes.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 26, 2026
The traditional layer cake, especially when it’s for someone else, can feel like a high-stakes performance.
From Salon ● Feb. 3, 2026
“I was a layer cake of abandonment and hurt and fury, iced with a smile,” goes a typically curt, sardonic line in Manguso’s second novel, which chronicles the slow-motion collapse of a marriage.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 10, 2024
My heart, which had been so full of hope on the whole long ride to town, slumped like a fallen layer cake.
From "Hattie Big Sky" by Kirby Larson
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
