substrate

plural substrates

1. An underlying layer; a substratum.

   Synonyms: substratum

2. The substance lining the bottom edge of an enclosure.

   Stream substrate affects fish longevity.

   1 more example

   The substrate of an aquarium can affect the water's acidity.

3. biochemistryA substance acted upon, as by an enzyme.
4. biologyA surface on which an organism grows, or to which an organism or an item is attached.

   The rock surface of a rockpool is the substrate for a sessile organism such as a limpet.

   3 more examples

   This definition [of "tool"] is not simple, but contains several elements. The tool must not be part of the animal's body (a beak is not a tool); the user must manipulate the tool in some way for it to realise its function; and, finally, a tool cannot be attached to the substrate. This is a fairly clear definition, but does seem to produce some rather arbitrary distinctions (Hansell 1987b). The spider Dinopis, for example, makes a small web which it holds in its legs, thrusting it down on passing ants. This is a tool, but all other webs, however complex, are not since they are anchored to the substrate. The woodpecker finch […] that uses a fine stick held in the beak to extract insect prey from wood, is a tool user, but a shrike […] that impales an insect on a thorn still attached to the bush is not.

   2000, Mike Hansell, Bird Nests and Construction Behaviour, →ISBN, page 90

   Detach/subtract [tasks involve] Severing a fixed attachment between environmental objects (or the substrate) or removing object(s) from another unattached object, so the latter is a more useful tool.

   2006, Edward A. Wasserman, Thomas R. Zentall, Comparative Cognition: Experimental Explorations of Animal Intelligence, →ISBN, page 520

   Amphisteginids and peneroplids were among the few taxa found in the bay environments, probably due to their preferences for phytal substrates and tolerance to moderate levels of eutrophication.

   2015 December 29, “Spatial Patterns in the Distribution, Diversity and Abundance of Benthic Foraminifera around Moorea (Society Archipelago, French Polynesia)”, in PLOS ONE, →DOI

5. human sciencesA language that is replaced in a population by another language and that influences the language imposed on its speakers.

   Antonyms: superstrate

6. platingA metal which is plated with another metal which has different physical properties.
7. businessA surface to which a substance adheres.

present singular third person substrates · participle present substrating · participle past substrated · past substrated

1. obsoletetransitiveTo strew or lay under.

   The melted glass being supported by the substrated sand.

   1663, Robert Boyle, “(please specify the page)”, in Some Considerations Touching the Vsefulnesse of Experimental Naturall Philosophy, […], Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] Hen[ry] Hall printer to the University, for Ric[hard] Davis, →OCLC, part I

comparative more substrate · superlative most substrate

1. Having very slight furrows.