overspread
English
Alternative forms
- o'erspread (literary contraction)
Etymology
From Middle English overspreden, from Old English ofersprǣdan; equivalent to over- + spread. Cognate with Dutch overspreiden (“to overspread”), German überspreiten (“to overspread”).
Pronunciation
Verb
overspread (third-person singular simple present overspreads, present participle overspreading, simple past and past participle overspread)
- (transitive) To spread over or across (something); cover over; be scattered over; permeate, overrun.
- Synonym: bespread
- 1612, Michael Drayton, “(please specify the chapter)”, in [John Selden], editor, Poly-Olbion. Or A Chorographicall Description of Tracts, Riuers, Mountaines, Forests, and Other Parts of this Renowned Isle of Great Britaine, […], London: […] [Humphrey Lownes] for M[athew] Lownes; I[ohn] Browne; I[ohn] Helme; I[ohn] Busbie, →OCLC:
- those nations of the North which overspread the world
- 1749, Henry Fielding, The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, volume (please specify |volume=I to VI), London: A[ndrew] Millar, […], →OCLC:
- Lady Bellaston fixed her eyes on Sophia whilst she spoke these words. To which that poor young lady, having her face overspread with blushes and confusion, answered, in a stammering voice […]
- 1802, Robert Southey, The Inchcape Rock[1]:
- So thick a haze o’erspreads the sky,
They cannot see the sun on high:
The wind hath blown a gale all day;
At evening it hath died away.
- 1913, D[avid] H[erbert] Lawrence, Sons and Lovers, London: Duckworth & Co. […], →OCLC:
- Deliberately, and with a peculiar quivering smile, that seemed to overspread her whole body, she put her mouth on his.
- (intransitive) To be spread or scattered about. (Can we add an example for this sense?)