overlay.
To lay, spread, or apply (something) over or across (something else); to overspread.
Meaning & usage
To lay, spread, or apply (something) over or across (something else); to overspread.
She will now overlay the crust with fruit.
She will now overlay fruit on top of the crust.
To overwhelm; to press excessively upon.
To lie over (someone, especially a child) in order to smother it; to suffocate.
To put an overlay on.
To bet too much money on.
Where this word comes from
From Middle English overleyen, from Old English oferleċġan, from Proto-West Germanic *obarlaggjan, from Proto-Germanic *uberlagjaną, equivalent to over- + lay. Cognate with Saterland Frisian uurläze, úurlääse, Dutch overleggen, German Low German overleggen, överleggen, German überlegen, Swedish överlägga, Norwegian overlegge. Compare overlie.
An image to be overlaid on another; a superimposition or diapositive.
A piece of paper pasted upon the tympan sheet to improve the impression by making it stronger at a particular place.
Odds which are set higher than expected or warranted. Favorable odds.
A horse going off at higher odds than it appears to warrant, based on its past performances.
A decal attached to a computer keyboard to relabel the keys.
A block of program code that is loaded over something previously loaded, so as to replace the functionality.
A pop-up covering an existing part of the display.
A cravat.
A covering over something else.
Where this word comes from
From Middle English overleyen, from Old English oferleċġan, from Proto-West Germanic *obarlaggjan, from Proto-Germanic *uberlagjaną, equivalent to over- + lay. Cognate with Saterland Frisian uurläze, úurlääse, Dutch overleggen, German Low German overleggen, överleggen, German überlegen, Swedish överlägga, Norwegian overlegge. Compare overlie.
simple past of overlie
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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.
Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.