| v. t. | 1. | To lay, or spread, something over or across; hence, to cover; to overwhelm; to press excessively upon. |
| 2. | To cover (an object made of an inexpensive metal, glass, or other material) with a thin sheet of an expensive metal, especially with silver or gold. Distinguished from to | |
| 3. | To smother with a close covering, or by lying upon. | |
| 4. | (Printing) To put an overlay on. | |
| n. | 1. | A covering. |
| 2. | (Printing) A piece of paper pasted upon the tympan sheet to improve the impression by making it stronger at a particular place. | |
| 3. | (Computers) A subroutine which occupies a portion of main memory which is occupied at some other time by another subroutine during execution of the same program. Overlays were used as an older technique to allow larger programs to be executed in restricted main memory space; the same effect is now accomplished by different techniques. |
| Noun | 1. | overlay - protective covering consisting, for example, of a layer of boards applied to the studs and joists of a building to strengthen it and serve as a foundation for a weatherproof exterior |
| Verb | 1. | overlay - put something on top of something else; "cover the meat with a lot of gravy" Synonyms: cover |
| 2. | overlay - kill by lying on; "The sow overlay her piglets" Synonyms: overlie |