overlay

Verb

overlay (third-person singular simple present overlays, present participle overlaying, simple past and past participle overlaid or overlayed)

1. (transitive) To lay, spread, or apply (something) over or across (something else); to overspread.
   • Near-synonyms: cover, superimpose, superpose
   • She will now overlay the crust with fruit.

   Synonyms:

   cover, superimpose, superpose

2. To overwhelm; to press excessively upon.
   • when any country is overlaid by the multitude which live upon itc. 1610?, Walter Raleigh, A Discourse of War
3. (archaic, transitive) To lie over (someone, especially a child) in order to smother it; to suffocate.
   • And this womans childe died in the night: because she ouerlaid it.1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, 1 Kings 3:19
   • a heap of ashes that o'erlays your fire1692, John Dryden, Cleomenes, the Spartan Hero, a Tragedy
4. (transitive) To put an overlay on.
5. (transitive) To bet too much money on.
   • […] he has 'overlaid' his book, and has not succeeded in 'getting round' by bets against the other horses.1890, The Twentieth Century, volume 27, page 934

Noun

UK/ˈəʊ.vəˌleɪ/US/ˈoʊvɚˌleɪ/

overlay (plural overlays)

1. (graphic arts) An image to be overlaid on another; a superimposition or diapositive.
2. A piece of paper pasted upon the tympan sheet to improve the impression by making it stronger at a particular place.
3. Odds which are set higher than expected or warranted. Favorable odds.
4. A horse going off at higher odds than it appears to warrant, based on its past performances.
5. A decal attached to a computer keyboard to relabel the keys.
   • The keyboard overlay can be a memory jogger and a great help with spelling. In this way the keyboard makes word processing more accessible to younger as well as special needs children.1994, Roger Frost, The IT in Secondary Science Book, page 56

   Synonyms:

   keystrip

6. A block of program code that is loaded over something previously loaded, so as to replace the functionality.
   • This concept can be extended further by allowing a primary overlay to call a secondary overlay, and so on. However, we will limit ourselves here to the use of primary overlays. Before proceeding further, you need to understand the memory map of the computer, which is a diagram showing the use to...1986, Noel M. Morris, Computer Graphics and CAD Fundamentals: BBC Micro Version
7. (Internet) A pop-up covering an existing part of the display.
8. (Scotland) A cravat.
9. A covering over something else.
   • The first, on January 1, 1883, was attributed to the overlay becoming surcharged with water, due to insufficient drainage, and causing a slip.1943 March and April, “A British Avalanche Shelter”, in Railway Magazine, page 80
   • I really appreciate the clear explication of Dworkin's understanding of male sexuality. In this we see, without the overlay of polemic that infuses her non-fiction, how Dworkin can proceed from basic feminist principles to create an almost seamless, sophistic argument for sexism.1980 August 2, George Whitmore, “Dworkin”, in Gay Community News, page 5