tier

plural tiers

1. One who ties (knots, etc.).
2. Something that ties.
3. archaicA child's apron.

plural tiers

1. A row or range, especially one at a higher or lower level than another.
2. A rank or grade; a stratum.

   Stoke City were playing in the second tier of English football before being promoted to the Premier League.

   2 more examples

   Turians have 27 citizenship tiers, beginning with civilians (client races and children). The initial period of military service is the second tier.

   2008, BioWare, Mass Effect, Redwood City: Electronic Arts, →ISBN, →OCLC, PC, scene: Turians: Government Codex entry

   At various points during the (too frequent, mostly boring, school play-tier) dialogue.

   2023 May 25, Nic Reuben, “The Lord of the Rings: Gollum review”, in The Guardian

3. AustraliaA (typically forested) range of hills or mountains, especially in South Australia or Tasmania; a mountain.First known use 19th c.

   This party headed towards the tiers and lakes, scouring the country while veering towards Bothwell.

   2017, Nick Brodie, The Vandemonian War, Hardie Grant Books, page 114

   1 more example

   On she drove, leaving the highway, up a skinny country road, past the snow-capped tier and into the forest on its foothills.

   2018, Robbie Arnott, Flames, Text Publishing, published 2023, page 141

4. A horizontal row of panels within a comic strip.

present singular third person tiers · participle present tiering · participle past tiered · past tiered

1. transitiveTo arrange in layers.
2. transitiveTo cascade in an overlapping sequence.
3. transitivecomputingTo move (data) from one storage medium to another as an optimization, based on how frequently it is accessed.