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
-
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
Imagine this fairy unreality outlined, not against the murk which overlies cities, but against a sky of desert clarity and color.
From The Book of the National Parks by Robert Sterling Yard
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
An overlay of the stadium’s blueprint hovers faintly over everything.
From "Warcross" by Marie Lu
“This is why you have my support,” one commenter wrote when the video was later posted to Instagram with Gascón gesturing wildly at overlain text highlighting some of his campaign’s priorities.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 24, 2024
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
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
Geology.—Gneiss and schist, with intrusive granites and porphyries, overlain to a great extent by sand and lateritic deposits, occupy the coast belt, coast mountains and the plateau of Damaraland.
From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 11, Slice 7 "Geoponici" to "Germany" by Various
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
“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
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
The blue places are apparently deep holes in the overlying clouds through which we see clear sky.
From "Cosmos" by Carl Sagan
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.
