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overlay

Pronunciation: /ˌəʊ.vəˈleɪ/

The English word “overlay” has 14 meanings listed here.

verb

  1. To lay, spread, or apply (something) over or across (something else); to overspread.
  2. To overwhelm; to press excessively upon.
  3. To lie over (someone, especially a child) in order to smother it; to suffocate.
  4. To put an overlay on.
  5. To bet too much money on.

noun

  1. An image to be overlaid on another; a superimposition or diapositive.
  2. A piece of paper pasted upon the tympan sheet to improve the impression by making it stronger at a particular place.
  3. Odds which are set higher than expected or warranted. Favorable odds.
  4. A horse going off at higher odds than it appears to warrant, based on its past performances.
  5. A decal attached to a computer keyboard to relabel the keys.
  6. A block of program code that is loaded over something previously loaded, so as to replace the functionality.
  7. A pop-up covering an existing part of the display.
  8. A cravat.
  9. A covering over something else.

Etymology

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.

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Definitions are from Wiktionary, extracted by Kaikki.org, and are available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.