overlie
Americanverb (used with object)
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overlies,
present (3rd person singular)
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overlay,
past
-
overlain,
past participle
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overlying
present participle
-
to lie over or upon, as a covering or stratum.
-
to smother (an infant) by lying on them, as in sleep.
verb
-
to lie or rest upon Compare overlay
-
to kill (a baby or newborn animal) by lying upon it
Other Word Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
overliesimple
-
overliessimple
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have overlainperfect
-
has overlainperfect
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am overlyingprogressive
-
are overlyingprogressive
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is overlyingprogressive
-
have been overlyingperfect progressive
-
has been overlyingperfect progressive
Past
-
overlaysimple
-
had overlainperfect
-
was overlyingprogressive
-
were overlyingprogressive
-
had been overlyingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of overlie
First recorded in 1125–75; Middle English overlien, overliggen; see over-, lie 2
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
The researchers combined reams of geologic data from 2003 to 2017 to determine where U.S. forests and shrublands overlie bedrock that roots could feasibly reach.
From Scientific American ● Dec. 29, 2021
However, near the bottom horizontal strata overlie tilted strata.
From Textbooks ● Jan. 1, 2017
Schmidt calculates that these tumbled patches of ice probably overlie pockets of liquid water trapped in the shifting ice.
From Slate ● Dec. 19, 2014
These geologic units overlie the craton we want to study and so don’t tell us very much.
From New York Times ● Jan. 7, 2011
High clouds temporarily overlie about a third of the GRS.
From "Cosmos" by Carl Sagan
A deep fracture in the Tibetan Plateau known as the Cona-Sangri rift overlies the tear—a tantalizing hint that the tumult in the Indian Plate’s underbelly might somehow ripple to the surface.
From Science Magazine ● Jan. 9, 2024
That’s a very specific cause of cardiac arrest that occurs when there is blunt force trauma to the heart, or the chest wall that overlies the heart.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 25, 2023
So they wet the skin that overlies this big balloon of blood right behind their nostrils.
From Slate ● Jan. 28, 2023
When a strong jet streak overlies a developing low-pressure system, it creates a feedback pattern that makes warm air rise at an increasing rate.
From Scientific American ● Jan. 28, 2022
The crust of selfishness which overlies the heart of every man given overmuch to one purpose, even the most honourable, had broken up, and the generous warmth of the kindly nature within asserted itself.
From The Justice of the King by Hamilton Drummond
Other scammers take videos and photos from real practicing attorneys and overlay different audio to trick immigrants into sending them money.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 31, 2026
Michael Nizard, head of multi-asset and overlay at Edmond de Rothschild Asset Management, said the yen’s excessive weakness could prompt coordinated intervention.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 7, 2026
But a digital forensics expert told AFP's fact-checkers that the anomaly was the result of a failed text overlay by a news station that had syndicated the official feed.
From Barron's ● Apr. 11, 2026
“I m not sure why he was sanctimonious and agressive when detailing the harvey weinstein allegations,” Epstein wrote. “now watching the overlay , its amazing.”
From Salon ● Feb. 6, 2026
She flicked through the rack and pulled out a slipper dress with a chiffon overlay printed with a Qinghua pattern, the blue-white motif of Chinese porcelain.
From "The Red Car to Hollywood" by Jennie Liu
In many Baltic cemeteries horses were buried separately from humans, but there are numerous examples of horses with overlain human cremations.
From Science Daily ● May 17, 2024
MTT’s was a series of overlain transparencies showing the electron shells of one of the higher elements, perhaps uranium.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 23, 2023
Tornadoes are born of severe thunderstorms when warm humid surface air is overlain by cooler, drier air aloft, producing what meteorologists call a “conditionally unstable atmosphere.”
From Washington Post ● Dec. 21, 2021
On Thursday, Weinstein lawyer Arthur Aidala walked in wearing a wild, light-colored suit with an overlain windowpane, plaid pattern.
From Washington Times ● Feb. 1, 2020
The limestone area along the East Aspetuck is largely overlain by till, but here again the presence of rock in place shows that the valley has not been overdeepened.
From Drainage Modifications and Glaciation in the Danbury Region Connecticut State of Connecticut State Geological and Natural History Survey Bulletin No. 30 by Ruth Sawyer-Harvey
National Fuel Gas owns roughly 1.2 million acres in the Appalachian Basin, with substantial mineral ownership overlying the Marcellus and Utica shales.
From Barron's ● Jan. 23, 2026
This month, the researchers will return to Waesche, looking for more rocks that could confirm whether the loss of overlying ice caused Waesche to wake up.
From Science Magazine ● Dec. 2, 2024
As a result, the top few inches of soil or rock heat up rapidly over the course of a day, and in turn warm the overlying air.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 17, 2024
A wide residential and commercial block, known as "Region 9", is being cleared of several metres of overlying pumice and ash thrown out by Vesuvius almost 2,000 years ago.
From BBC ● Apr. 11, 2024
I nodded, my fingers finding the bare skin of his forearms, tracing the muscles and overlying veins there.
From "The Darkest Minds" by Alexandra Bracken
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
