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:
“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
He was speaking to her with the calmness of a leave-taking in the pressroom—the serenity that overlies the greatest awe and agony of which human nature is capable.
From J. S. Le Fanu's Ghostly Tales, Volume 3 by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu
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
The former Manchester mayor comes off as a gregarious, upbeat fellow with an admittedly nerdy overlay.
From Salon ● Jul. 22, 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
BBC Sport has seen a telemetry data overlay of a quick lap from Bahrain with last year's cars compared with one from this year.
From BBC ● Feb. 26, 2026
Through the windows, I can see an overlay of virtual markers over the streets and buildings.
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
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
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 soil consists of a rich black humus that is soft and mellow except during the period of greatest dryness, being overlain by a varying depth of vegetable debris and leaf-mold.
From Journal of Entomology and Zoology Volume 11, Number 4, December 1919 by Charles P. Alexander
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
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
When combined with gravity data, the model computes the ocean's depth as well as the thickness of the overlying ice.
From Science Daily ● Nov. 25, 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.
