English

Verb

overlay ‎(third-person singular simple present overlays, present participle overlaying, simple past and past participle overlaid or overlayed)

1. (transitive) To lay, spread, or apply something over or across; cover.
   • Spenser

     as when a cloud his beams doth overlay

   • Milton

     framed of cedar overlaid with gold

2. To overwhelm; to press excessively upon.
   • Sir Walter Raleigh

     when any country is overlaid by the multitude which live upon it

3. (transitive, now rare, archaic) To lie over (someone, especially a child) in order to smother it; to suffocate. [from 14th c.]
   • Bible, 1 Kings iii. 19

     This woman's child died in the night, because she overlaid it.

   • Dryden

     a heap of ashes that o'erlays your fire

   • 1993, Pat Barker, The Eye in the Door, Penguin 2014 (The Regeneration Trilogy), p. 371:

     Prostitutes, thieves, girls who ‘overlaid’ their babies, abortionists who stuck their knitting needles into something vital – did they really need to be here?

4. (transitive, printing) To put an overlay on.

Translations

Noun

overlay ‎(plural overlays)

1. (printing) A piece of paper pasted upon the tympan sheet to improve the impression by making it stronger at a particular place.
2. (gambling) Odds which are set higher than expected or warranted. Favorable odds.
3. (horse racing) A horse going off at higher odds than it appears to warrant, based on its past performances.
4. A decal attached to a computer keyboard to relabel the keys.
   • 1994, Roger Frost, The IT in Secondary Science Book (page 56)

     The keyboard overlay can be a memory jogger and a great help with spelling. In this way the keyboard makes word processing more accessible to younger as well as special needs children.

Translations

Anagrams

• layover