ˌsuperimˈpose, v.
[f. super- 2 + impose v. after superimposition.]
1. trans. To impose or place (one object) on or upon another; to lay above or on the top. a. gen.
| 1823 H. J. Brooke Introd. Crystallogr. 291 The first plate of molecules which is superimposed on the primary plane. 1851 D. Wilson Preh. Ann. (1863) I. ix. 288 An ancient churchyard was superimposed on a still older cemetery. 1867 J. Hogg Microsc. i. ii. 142 Producing a mixture of all the colours by superimposing three films one on the other. 1892 Photogr. Ann. II. 211 One thickness of ruby paper with one thickness of orange paper superimposed. |
b. spec. in Geol. in reference to stratification: always in pa. pple. (cf. superimposed 1).
| 1794 Kirwan Elem. Min. (ed. 2) I. 362 These sandstones have been found crystallized in rhomboidal tables superimposed one upon the other. 1802 Playfair Illustr. Hutton. The. 88 The schistus was not super-imposed on the granite, after the formation of this last. 1863 Lyell Antiq. Man iii. 43 Four buried forests superimposed one upon the other. |
2. fig. To cause to follow upon something else and to exist side by side with it.
| 1855 Bain Senses & Int. iii. iv. §9, I have the idea of a mountain and the idea of gold, and by superimposing the one upon the other, I can evoke the image of a mountain of gold. 1879 Earle Philol. Engl. Tongue (ed. 3) §334 This diminutival form -et, -ette, was in old French often superimposed upon the effete diminutival -el. 1889 Spectator 28 Sept. 395/2 Superimposed on them are the Spaniards, and next to these the Italian, Swedish, English, and German settlers. 1897 Allbutt's Syst. Med. IV. 381 The puerperal kidney has a mixed nature; it is one of diffuse nephritis upon which granular contraction is rapidly superimposed. |
3. To place (a person) in a position as a superior.
| 1902 W. L. Mathieson Politics & Relig. xviii. II. 193 Their object had been to superimpose on the Presbyterian organisation certain officials. |
4. intr. Of two figures or the like: to be capable of being brought into coincidence; to occupy the same positions in relation to their contexts.
| 1971 Nature 2 July 12/2 Counts from the highest polysome fraction superimpose on the zones corresponding to the two major light chains. 1972 Sci. Amer. Aug. 95/1 The degree to which the fields do not superimpose can be measured, and in this case there was a range of six degrees of horizontal disparity and two degrees of vertical disparity. 1975 Nature 10 Jan. 127/1 The sheets could then superimpose, forming the observed structures. 1978 Ibid. 27 July 389/2 (caption) Note that the peaks do not superimpose. |