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
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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:
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
The freeways are the concrete net that overlies it all, but only real Angelenos enter their mesmerizing alpha state.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 11, 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 streets now called Strozzi and Speziali plainly preserve the Roman main street from east to west, while the Via Calimara overlies that which ran from north to south.
From Ancient Town-Planning by F. (Francis) Haverfield
The former Manchester mayor comes off as a gregarious, upbeat fellow with an admittedly nerdy overlay.
From Salon ● Jul. 22, 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
The other is an overlay of orange and yellow splotches on the land.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 26, 2026
There are only a few to be seen from here, scattered dots representing the rest of the Milky Way, invisible without a virtual overlay.
From "Warcross" by Marie Lu
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
In the Arctic, the pole is covered by an ocean overlain by ice that spreads outward, but soon encounters and freezes onto land masses including the coasts of Alaska, Russia and Canada’s Arctic Islands.
From Washington Post ● Feb. 14, 2023
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
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
And now Pomuchelskopp's expression could be compared to nothing but that of a wretched mother who had accidentally overlain her child in her sleep: "God help me!" he cried.
From An Old Story of My Farming Days Vol. III (of III). (Ut Mine Stromtid) by Fritz Reuter
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 - this is called a collapse sinkhole.
From BBC ● Mar. 25, 2025
“Very Delta” traverses time, bringing memories together, creating overlying queer maps that support one another’s experiences and add new pieces to an endless puzzle of connections.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 23, 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
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.
