overlie
Americanverb (used with object)
-
overlies,
present (3rd person singular)
-
overlay,
past
-
overlain,
past participle
-
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
-
have overlainperfect
-
has overlainperfect
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am overlyingprogressive
-
are overlyingprogressive
-
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:
“Indeed, with the discovery that both cartouches of Ay overlie original cartouches of Tutankhamun, we have the veritable smoking gun,” he said.
From New York Times ● Oct. 30, 2022
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
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
A rope rides, as when round the capstan or windlass the strain part overlies and jams the preceding turn.—To ride between wind and tide.
From The Sailor's Word-Book An Alphabetical Digest of Nautical Terms, including Some More Especially Military and Scientific, but Useful to Seamen; as well as Archaisms of Early Voyagers, etc. by Sir Edward Belcher
The former Manchester mayor comes off as a gregarious, upbeat fellow with an admittedly nerdy overlay.
From Salon ● Jul. 22, 2026
A series of colorful circles overlay Lee’s ink sketches.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 8, 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
Wright adopted Caravaggio’s lead white ground and midbrown overlay, as well as his flushed cheeks, pale necks and fleshy pink velvets.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 14, 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
It’s his own method to bring discipline to interviews that can be brief, chaotic and overlain by sirens and ambient sounds of human distress.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 7, 2022
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 drawn, haggard mask that had overlain her face so many months was dissolved away in an utter unconsciousness.
From The Squirrel-Cage by John Alanzo Williams
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
The overlying rock, sometimes clay or sandstone, will then suddenly collapse into the depression beneath - called a 'collapse sinkhole'.
From BBC ● Feb. 19, 2025
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
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
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