Definitions
from The Century Dictionary.
- To lay upon or over; cover or spread over the surface of: as, cedar overlaid with gold.
- To burden or encumber; oppress.
- To lie upon; hence, to smother by lying upon: for overlie.
- To obscure by covering; cloud; overcast.
- To span; join the opposite sides of.
- In printing, to make even or graduate the impression of, on a printing-press, by means of overlays.
- In printing, to use overlays.
- noun In quarrying, the overburden or detrital material which covers the rock in a quarry.
- noun In printing, a bit of paper accurately cut and pasted on the impression-surface of a printing-press with intent to increase the impression in a place where it is not strong enough.
- noun In tile-ornamenting (by the process of pressing leaves, laces, or embossed patterns upon the unbaked tiles), a part of a leaf, cutting of lace, etc., which lies over and upon another leaf, cutting, or pattern.
- noun A second tablecloth laid in various ways over a larger cloth on the table.
- noun A cravat; a neckcloth.
- noun Loosely, anything laid over another for protection or ornament.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- transitive verb To lay, or spread, something over or across; hence, to cover; to overwhelm; to press excessively upon.
- transitive verb To cover (an object made of an inexpensive metal, glass, or other material) with a thin sheet of an expensive metal, especially with silver or gold. Distinguished from to
plate , which is done by a chemical or electrical deposition process. - transitive verb To smother with a close covering, or by lying upon.
- transitive verb (Printing) To put an overlay on.
- noun A covering.
- noun (Printing) A piece of paper pasted upon the tympan sheet to improve the impression by making it stronger at a particular place.
- noun (Computers) A subroutine which occupies a portion of main memory which is occupied at some other time by another subroutine during execution of the same program. Overlays were used as an older technique to allow larger programs to be executed in restricted main memory space; the same effect is now accomplished by different techniques.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- verb transitive To
lay , orspread , something over or across; to cover. - verb To
overwhelm ; to press excessively upon. - verb transitive To
smother with a close covering, or by lying upon. - verb transitive, printing To put an
overlay on. - noun printing A piece of paper pasted upon the
tympan sheet to improve the impression by making it stronger at a particular place. - noun gambling Odds which are set higher than expected or warranted. Favorable odds.
- noun horse racing A horse going off at higher odds than it appears to warrant, based on its past performances.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- verb put something on top of something else
- noun protective covering consisting, for example, of a layer of boards applied to the studs and joists of a building to strengthen it and serve as a foundation for a weatherproof exterior
- noun a layer of decorative material (such as gold leaf or wood veneer) applied over a surface
- verb kill by lying on
Etymologies
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
Support
Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word overlay.
Examples
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They will have the title overlay capability in their production switcher.
VideoHelp.com Forum 2010
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They will have the title overlay capability in their production switcher.
VideoHelp.com Forum 2010
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They will have the title overlay capability in their production switcher.
VideoHelp.com Forum 2010
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The Oresteian mythical overlay is the vehicle for that consciousness, one that Aue himself evokes.
Furies 2009
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Gold overlay is a passive metal and will not tarnish.
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Gold overlay is a passive metal and will not tarnish.
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Somewhat reluctantly, they're now raising a teenager — and underneath the vamp-vs. -human overlay is a smart exploration of the accommodations two very different people have to come to when parenting.
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Lijit – search application, results appear in overlay window [how accessible are these things?] picapp – free access to visual content legally, eventually will include ads under pics
Do It Myself Blog – Glenda Watson Hyatt » 2008 » September 2008
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The GENErevolution representative, who had not been cloned as the new practice was waived for management-level employees, leaned forward, hands behind his back. “Don†™ t worry Mr. President, a complete neural overlay is nothing to fret over.
365 tomorrows » 2008 » April : A New Free Flash Fiction SciFi Story Every Day 2008
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Some people say that using the clear plastic overlay is "tacky" but I think that is rather snobbish, and not economical.
The Linen Closet 2006
whichbe commented on the word overlay
Pig-latin for lover.
November 21, 2008
Prolagus commented on the word overlay
Would you feel like creating a list of Pig-Latin words that are also English words?
November 21, 2008
whichbe commented on the word overlay
No. I just generated about 5 of them on a quick Onelook.com ?????ay search. I am facinated by the eBay one, however, because it seems kind of sneaky.
November 21, 2008
Prolagus commented on the word overlay
As Erich Fromm -- were he alive -- would say,
otay avehay oryay otay ebay.
November 21, 2008
mollusque commented on the word overlay
Not making a list? Why the underplay?
November 21, 2008