1. [n]  seaweed with edible translucent crinkly green fronds
2. [n]  edible red seaweeds
3. [n]  (Old Testament) large basin used by a priest in an ancient Jewish Temple to perform ritual ablutions
4. [n]  Australian tennis player who in 1962 was the second man to win the Australian and French and English and United States singles titles in the same year; in 1969 he repeated this feat (born in 1938)

1. \Lav"er\ (l[=a]"v[~e]r), n. [OE. lavour, F. lavoir, L.
   lavatorium a washing place. See {Lavatory}.]
   1. A vessel for washing; a large basin.
   2. (Script. Hist.)
      (a) A large brazen vessel placed in the court of the
          Jewish tabernacle where the officiating priests washed
          their hands and feet.
      (b) One of several vessels in Solomon's Temple in which
          the offerings for burnt sacrifices were washed.
   3. That which washes or cleanses. --J. H. Newman.
   

2. \Lav"er\, n. [From {Lave} to wash.]
   One who laves; a washer. [Obs.]
   

3. \La"ver\ (l[=a]"v[~e]r), n.
   The fronds of certain marine alg[ae] used as food, and for
   making a sauce called laver sauce. Green laver is the {Ulva
   latissima}; purple laver, {Porphyra laciniata} and {P.
   vulgaris}. It is prepared by stewing, either alone or with
   other vegetables, and with various condiments; -- called also
   {sloke}, or {sloakan}.
   {Mountain laver} (Bot.), a reddish gelatinous alga of the
      genus {Palmella}, found on the sides of mountains
   

(Heb. kiyor), a "basin" for boiling in, a "pan" for cooking (1 Sam. 2:14), a "fire-pan" or hearth (Zech. 12:6), the sacred wash-bowl of the tabernacle and temple (Ex. 30:18, 28; 31:9; 35:16; 38:8; 39:39; 40:7, 11, 30, etc.), a basin for the water used by the priests in their ablutions.

That which was originally used in the tabernacle was of brass (rather copper; Heb. nihsheth), made from the metal mirrors the women brought out of Egypt (Ex. 38:8). It contained water wherewith the priests washed their hands and feet when they entered the tabernacle (40:32). It stood in the court between the altar and the door of the tabernacle (30:19, 21).

In the temple there were ten lavers used for the sacrifices, and the molten sea for the ablutions of the priests (2 Chr. 4:6). The position and uses of these are described 1 Kings 7:23-39; 2 Chr. 4:6. The "molten sea" was made of copper, taken from Tibhath and Chun, cities of Hadarezer, king of Zobah (1 Chr. 18:8; 1 Kings 7:23-26).

No lavers are mentioned in the second temple.