[ad. F. stratifier, ad. mod.L. stratificāre, f. strātum: see STRATUM and -FY.]
1. trans. ‘To range in beds or layers’ (J.); spec. in Metallurgy, to range in alternate layers (metals and reagent substances) in a crucible.
1661. Lovell, Hist. Anim. & Min., 193. Crowfish … may be put into barrels, having myrtle leaves stratified.
1669. Rowland, Schroder’s Chym. Disp., I. xiv. 21. To Stratify,… is when Minerals are laid with Powders, Layer upon Layer, first Powder, then Plates of Metals; then Powder, to the end.
1670. W. Simpson, Hydrol. Ess., 6. Artificial vitriol … made by a cementation of plates of copper stratified with common salt and sulphur.
1706. Phillips (ed. Kersey), s.v., To Stratify Gold and Cement … is to lay a Bed of Paste call’d Cement, then a Plate of Gold, then another Layer of Cement, then another Plate of Gold; and so on, till the Crucible be full.
1799. G. Smith, Laboratory, I. 185. Stratify thin plates of brass in an earthen pipkin with powdered sulphur and antimony.
1825. J. Nicholson, Operat. Mechanic, 340. The iron … must be put into … a cementing pot, and stratified with powdered charcoal.
1826. W. C. Ottley, Dict. Chem. & Min., Introd. Vocab., Stratify, to cause two or more bodies to act upon each other by placing them in any vessel in alternate layers.
1845. G. Dodd, Brit. Manuf., Ser. V. 184. The hide is then transferred to a pit containing stronger ooze, or else is stratified with crushed bark.
1853. Soyer, Pantroph., 240. They … wash them [sc. anchovies] in soft or salt water, and stratify them in barrels with salt.
1855. J. Scoffern, in Orr’s Circ. Sci., Elem. Chem., 438. Bars of wrought iron are stratified with charcoal.
† b. In passive: To be placed in alternate layers with something else. Obs.
1789. Mills, in Phil. Trans., LXXX. 83. The gneiss … is in ribs from two to twelve inches thick, and is stratified by intermediate ribs of red granite of about an inch thick.
1789. E. Darwin, Bot. Gard., I. (1791), 38, notes. Iron is found … stratified with clay coals or argillaceous grits.
1829. Good’s Study Med. (ed. 3), I. 616. We find the hydatids … sometimes stratified with layers of albuminous and friable matter.
2. Geol. Of natural agencies: To deposit (rocks) in strata or beds; to produce (a portion of the earth’s crust) in the form of strata; to form strata in. Chiefly in passive.
1794. R. J. Sulivan, View Nat., I. 49. They contain … other vestiges of organic substances; and are always stratified.
1805. Jameson, Min. Descr. Dumfries, 94. An extensive quarry, where a great rock mass of limestone is exposed: it is distinctly stratified.
1821. T. Dwight, Trav., II. 480. A vast mass of blue limestone, horizontally stratified.
1862. Dana, Man. Geol., 554. While the glaciers were disappearing, many a stream or lake would have existed to stratify the drift.
1863. Lyell, Antiq. Man, 37. If the mud pierced through had been thrown down by the river in ancient channels, it would have been stratified. Ibid. (1867), Princ. Geol., II. xxiv. (1875), I. 617. Composed chiefly of indurated Tufa like Monte Nuovo, stratified conformably to its conical surface.
1878. A. H. Green, etc., Coal, i. 6. Both sandstones and shales are divided into layers or beds, and are said to be stratified.
b. transf. and fig.
1851. Mrs. Browning, Casa Guidi Wind., I. 631. Good lovers of our age to track and plough Their way to, through time’s ordures stratified.
1872. O. W. Holmes, Poet Breakf.-t., ii. 67. Society stratifies itself everywhere.
1897. Bp. Creighton, in Daily News, 22 Jan., 6/5. Its methods had been found effective in a younger country less stratified than our own.
1900. Pilot, 28 April, 256/2. The mound from its great height must represent a series of stratified ruins.
1912. J. L. Myres, Dawn of Hist., viii. 168. This style [of pottery] was found in the important because well-stratified site at Phylakopi, in Melos.
3. intr. To assume the form of strata.
1856. T. B. Butler, Philos. Weather, i. 13 (Funk). Currents of air do not mingle, but stratify.
Hence Stratifying vbl. sb.
1706. Phillips (ed. Kersey), Stratification, (in Chymistry) a stratifying or putting different Matters Bed upon Bed [etc.].
