overlie, v.
(əʊvəˈlaɪ)
Pa. tense overlay; pa. pple. overlain. Forms: see over and lie v.1
[Early ME. oferliggen:—OE. type *oferlicgan: see over- 8. Cf. MHG. überligen, Ger. überliegen. In use from 12th to 16th c.; in 17–18th displaced by overlay; reintroduced in 19th c., chiefly in geological use.]
1. trans. To lie over or upon; in Geol. said of a stratum resting directly upon another. Also fig.
| c 1175 Lamb. Hom. 53 Þeos ilke ehte þe þeos þus ouer⁓liggeð. 1387–8 T. Usk Test. Love iii. vii. (Skeat) I. 39 Wel the hoter is the fire, that with ashen it is ouerlein. 1552 Huloet, Ouerlye, supercubo. |
| 1813 Bakewell Introd. Geol. (1815) 362 Beds..which are part of the regular coal formation, and overlie coal. 1851 Whittier To Old Schoolm. 95 Shapes the dust has long o'erlain. 1885 J. Ball in Jrnl. Linn. Soc. XXII. 27 Where the Palæozoic rocks do not appear to be overlain by recent marine deposits. |
2. spec. a. To smother by lying upon. (
Cf. overlay v. 5 a.)
| 13.. Propr. Sanct. (Vernon MS.) in Herrig Archiv LXXXI. 301/200 Þis is aȝeyn þeos wymmen Þat ouerliggen heor children. 1382 Wyclif 1 Kings iii. 19 The sone of this womman is deed to nyȝt, for slepynge she ouerlaye hym. a 1450 Myrc 1769 Þe modur þat þe chylde ouer lyth. 1530 Palsgr. 648/1, I overlye, as an oversene noryce dothe her chylde. [1557–1741 cf. overlay.] 1800 Southey Lett. (1856) I. 126 The mothers and the nurses who over-lie the children. 1856 Mrs. Browning Aur. Leigh iv. 63 The old idiot wretch Screamed feebly, like a baby overlain. |
† b. To lie with, have sexual intercourse with (a woman).
Obs. (
Cf. overlay 5 b.)
| 1422 tr. Secreta Secret., Priv. Priv. 160 Oone of ham that was callid absolon..ouer-lay his fadyr Concubynes. 1480 Caxton Chron. Eng. iv. (1520) 35/2 Whan he sawe them so fayre he and his company wolde have overlayne them. |
† 3. fig. To oppress.
Obs. (
Cf. overlay v. 7.)
| 1390 Gower Conf. III. 224 The comun poeple is overlein And hath the kinges senne aboght. 1430–40 Lydg. Bochas viii. xviii. (1558) 12 b, By the romayns he was so ouerlaine. 1530 Palsgr. 648/2, I overlye, as a tyranne or myghty man overlayeth his subjectes. |