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overcast

[adj. oh-ver-kast, -kahst, oh-ver-kast, -kahst; v. oh-ver-kast, -kahst, oh-ver-kast, -kahst; n. oh-ver-kast, -kahst]

Origin

adjective

overspread or covered with clouds; cloudy: an overcast day.

Meteorology. (of the sky) more than 95 percent covered by clouds.

dark; gloomy.

Sewing. sewn by overcasting.

verb (used with object)

to overcloud, darken, or make gloomy: Ominous clouds began to overcast the sky.

to sew with stitches passing successively over an edge, especially long stitches set at intervals to prevent raveling.

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Overcast is always a great word to know.

So is strong breeze. Does it mean:

an intense, localized downdraft of air that spreads on the ground, causing rapid changes in wind direction and speed; a localized downpour

a wind of 25?30 mph (11?13 m/sec)

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verb (used without object)

to become cloudy or dark: By noon it had begun to overcast.

noun

Meteorology. the condition of the sky when more than 95 percent covered by clouds.

Mining. a crossing of two passages, as airways, dug at the same level, in which one rises to pass over the other without opening into it. Compare undercast (def. 1).

Origin:
1175–1225; Middle English (v.); see over-, cast

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
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Link To overcast

Collins

World English Dictionary

overcast

—*adj*
1.	covered over or obscured, esp by clouds
2.	meteorol (of the sky) more than 95 per cent cloud-covered
3.	gloomy or melancholy
4.	sewn over by overcasting

—vb
5.	to make or become overclouded or gloomy
6.	to sew (an edge, as of a hem) with long stitches passing successively over the edge

—n
7.	a covering, as of clouds or mist
8.	meteorol the state of the sky when more than 95 per cent of it is cloud-covered
9.	mining a crossing of two passages without an intersection

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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Etymonline

Word Origin & History

overcast

1560s, originally pp. of verb overcast (late 13c.), "to cover, to overspread" as with a garment, usually of weather, from over + cast (q.v.). Earliest sense of the verb (early 13c.) was "to overthrow."

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undercast bedim cloudy glower

glower hazy heavy

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Matching Quote

"Looking southward, the heavens were completely overcast, the mountains capped with clouds, and the lake generally wore a dark and stormy appearance, but from its surface just north of Sugar Island, six or eight miles distant, there was reflected upward to us through the misty air a bright blue tinge from the distant unseen sky of another latitude beyond. They probably had a clear sky then at Greenville, the south end of the lake. Standing on a mountain in the midst of a lake, where would you look for the first sign of approaching fair weather? Not into the heavens, it seems, but into the lake."

-Henry David Thoreau

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overcast

o·ver·cast