overprinting

Verb

overprint (third-person singular simple present overprints, present participle overprinting, simple past and past participle overprinted)

1. To print over what has already been printed.
   • This is the way overprinting works on the ZX Spectrum: two papers or two inks give a paper, one of each gives an ink. This has the interesting property that if you overprint with the same thing twice you get back what you started off with.1982, Steven Vickers, Robin Bradbeer, Sinclair ZX Spectrum: BASIC Programming
2. (transitive) To add an overprint to (a stamp).
3. (by analogy) To superimpose a new set of petrological, structural, and/or mineralogical characteristics onto rock by the action of geological processes over deep time.
   • Furthermore, these rocks are overprinted by seafloor weathering, which provides a challenge to reconstructing serpentinization processes.2024 August, C. Johan Lissenberg, Andrew M. McCaig, Susan Q. Lang, Peter Blum, Natsue Abe, William J. Brazelton, Rémi Coltat, Jeremy R. Deans, Kristin L. Dickerson, Marguerite Godard, Barbara E....
4. (transitive) To print too many copies of.
   • The unpopular comic book was overprinted, leaving many retailers with dozens of unsaleable copies.
5. To overlap different colours to avoid gaps.

See all 7 meanings of overprint