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Overlay vs Overflow - What's the difference?

overlay | overflow |

In lang=en terms the difference between overlay and overflow

is that overlay is to lay, or spread, something over or across; to cover while overflow is to be superabundant; to abound.

As verbs the difference between overlay and overflow

is that overlay is to lay, or spread, something over or across; to cover while overflow is to flow over the brim of (a container).

As nouns the difference between overlay and overflow

is that overlay is (printing) a piece of paper pasted upon the tympan sheet to improve the impression by making it stronger at a particular place while overflow is the spillage resultant from overflow; excess.

overlay

English

Verb

  • To lay, or spread, something over or across; to cover.
  • * Spenser
    • as when a cloud his beams doth overlay
  • * Milton
    • framed of cedar overlaid with gold
  • To overwhelm; to press excessively upon.
  • * Sir Walter Raleigh
    • when any country is overlaid by the multitude which live upon it
  • * Bible, 1 Kings iii. 19
    • This woman's child died in the night, because she overlaid it.
  • * Dryden
    • a heap of ashes that o'erlays your fire
  • *1993 , (Pat Barker), The Eye in the Door'', Penguin 2014 (''The Regeneration Trilogy ), p. 371:
  • *:Prostitutes, thieves, girls who ‘overlaid ’ their babies, abortionists who stuck their knitting needles into something vital – did they really need to be here?
  • (printing) To put an on.

    • Noun

    (en noun)
  • (printing) A piece of paper pasted upon the tympan sheet to improve the impression by making it stronger at a particular place.
  • (betting) Odds which are set higher than expected or warranted. Favorable odds.
  • (horse racing) A horse going off at higher odds than it appears to warrant, based on its past performances.
  • A decal attached to a computer keyboard to relabel the keys.
  • * 1994 , Roger Frost, The IT in Secondary Science Book (page 56)
    • The keyboard overlay can be a memory jogger and a great help with spelling. In this way the keyboard makes word processing more accessible to younger as well as special needs children.

    Anagrams

    * English heteronyms

    overflow

    English

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • The spillage resultant from overflow; excess.
  • Outlet for escape of excess material.
  • (computing) The situation where a value exceeds the available numeric range.

    • Derived terms

    * overflow hole

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To flow over the brim of (a container).
    • The river overflowed the levee.
  • To cover with a liquid, literally or figuratively.
    • The flash flood overflowed most of the parkland and some homes.
  • * 1851 , Herman Melville, Moby-Dick
    • So when they were working that evening at the pumps, there was on this head no small gamesomeness slily going on among them, as they stood with their feet continually overflowed by the rippling clear water
  • To cause an overflow. (rfex)
  • To flow over the edge of a container.
    • The waters overflowed into the Ninth Ward.
  • To exceed limits or capacity.
    • The hospital ER was overflowing with flu cases.
  • # (computing, ambitransitive) To exceed the available numeric range.
  • Calculating 255+1 will overflow an eight-bit byte.
  • To be superabundant; to abound.
    • (Rogers)

    Derived terms

    * buffer overflow * underflow English heteronyms ----