Overlap

How to spell overlap

7 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce overlap

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does overlap mean?

1. verbTo extend over and partly cover something, or to coincide partly in time, scope, or content.
2. nounA part where two things extend over each other or partly coincide; the amount of such coincidence.

Overlap in a sentence

• verb

  The roof tiles overlap to keep the rain out.

• noun

  There is a small overlap between the two job descriptions.

• verb

  Our shifts overlap for an hour every afternoon.

• noun

  The builder left a generous overlap where the sheets meet.

Where does overlap come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

This is a native English compound built from two old elements. The first, 'over', descends from the Old English 'ofer', meaning 'above' or 'across', a thoroughly Germanic word with cousins throughout the related languages. The second part, 'lap', comes from the Old English 'læppa', which originally named a loose fold or flap of a garment, the very sense preserved when something is said to lie 'in your lap'. From the idea of a fold that lies partly over another came the verb 'to lap', meaning to wrap or fold one thing across the next. Joined together in the early modern period, 'overlap' captured the precise picture of one edge extending over and partly covering another, and it later spread into figurative uses such as schedules or duties that partly coincide. Because both halves are plain, familiar words, the spelling holds few surprises.

How the word is built

• over- (across, beyond)
• lap (a fold, to fold or lie partly over)