Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- transitive verb To lie over or on.
- transitive verb To suffocate (a baby, for example) by accidentally lying on top of it.
from The Century Dictionary.
- To lie over or upon; hence, to smother by lying upon.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- transitive verb To lie over or upon; specifically, to suffocate by lying upon.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- verb To
lie over or upon - verb To
suffocate by lying upon; as, to overlie an infant.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- verb kill by lying on
- verb lie upon; lie on top of
Etymologies
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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Subsea relict permafrost is thought to contain or overlie large volumes of CH4 in the form of gas hydrates at depths of up to several hundred meters.
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Because the relative ordering of the named sedimentary strata is well known, and the same order is found all over the world, we can use igneous rocks that overlie or underlie sedimentary strata, or are embedded in them, to date those named sedimentary strata, and hence the fossils within them.
THE GREATEST SHOW ON EARTH RICHARD DAWKINS 2009
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Because the relative ordering of the named sedimentary strata is well known, and the same order is found all over the world, we can use igneous rocks that overlie or underlie sedimentary strata, or are embedded in them, to date those named sedimentary strata, and hence the fossils within them.
THE GREATEST SHOW ON EARTH RICHARD DAWKINS 2009
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For example, surface drying of open tundra is restricted when non-transpiring mosses and lichens overlie the tundra.
Effects of climate change on hydro-ecology of contributing basins in the Arctic 2009
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We're going to go to a sub-national provincial governors, potentially tribal chiefs in order to leave behind stability, and hopefully not overlie upon this corrupt, inept government there.
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The ash hazard to aviation is not a rare possibility on a worldwide scale, given that many major air routes overlie the world's volcanically active regions.
Reducing the threat to aviation from airborne volcanic ash 2009
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On shore, 5 m sand dunes and alluvial sands and gravels overlie relatively recent sedimentary, Tertiary clastic and PreCambrian crystalline rocks.
Islands and Protected Areas of the Gulf of California, Mexico 2008
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Tertiary rocks overlie other peneplains to form spectacular high altitude moors like the Thousand Acre Plateau.
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The Gran Sabana uplands are gently rolling high plains, formed by sediments of the Roraima Formation, which overlie discordantly the rocks of the Guyana Shield.
Guyanan savanna 2008
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Dolomitic drift and meltwater deposits are characteristic and overlie limestone, calcareous shale, and dolomitic mudstone.
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