Was afraid, having article cut into layers (9)
I believe the answer is:
feathered
'cut into layers' is the definition.
I can't tell whether this defines the answer.
'was afraid having article' is the wordplay.
'was afraid' becomes 'feared' (I've seen this before).
'having' is an insertion indicator.
'article' becomes 'the' (the definite article in English).
'feared' going around 'the' is 'FEATHERED'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for feathered that I've seen before include "head of dodo, thus?" , "Birds are described as fine . . . . . . . . . friends" , "Like bird" , "like a tumbler?" .)