Word.ws English Dictionary

overlace

overlace verb: to spread over in a crossing pattern.

Verb

overlace (third-person singular simple present overlaces, present participle overlacing, simple past and past participle overlaced)

  1. (transitive) To spread over in a crossing pattern.
    • Yet there they lie, all the highways and paths and trails, running out from before our very feet to overlace the earth, to carry us whither we will, with all their old allurement […]1907, The Delineator, volume 69, number 4, page 641
    • Attendants to the bride, as of yet unidentified, were resplendently bedecked in a purple chiffon overlacing a delightful sheath of sheer orange burlap and satin that effectively accentuated the lovely pink tennis shoes.2012, Chris Ballard, One Shot at Forever
  2. To lace excessively.
    • Do not leave sections to become travel stained. Do not overlace, the judge will think you are hiding something.1952, Bee-keepers' Record, page 192

Forms of overlace

third-person singular presentoverlaces
present participleoverlacing
past participleoverlaced
pastoverlaced

Origin of overlace

From over- + lace.

Questions about overlace

What does overlace mean?
Overlace means to spread over in a crossing pattern.
What part of speech is overlace?
Overlace is a verb.
What is the past tense of overlace?
The past tense of overlace is overlaced.

Words near overlace in the dictionary

  1. overlabors
  2. overlabour
  3. overlaboured
  4. overlabouring
  5. overlabours
  6. overlace
  7. overlaced
  8. overlaces
  9. overlacing
  10. overlactation
  11. overlade

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: overlace (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “overlace.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/overlace. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.