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overcast

 - 3 dictionary results

o⋅ver⋅cast

[adj. oh-ver-kast, -kahst, oh-ver-kast, -kahst; v. oh-ver-kast, -kahst, oh-ver-kast, -kahst; n. oh-ver-kast, -kahst] adjective, verb, -cast, -cast⋅ing, noun
–adjective
1. overspread or covered with clouds; cloudy: an overcast day.
2. Meteorology. (of the sky) more than 95 percent covered by clouds.
3. dark; gloomy.
4. Sewing. sewn by overcasting.
–verb (used with object)
5. to overcloud, darken, or make gloomy: Ominous clouds began to overcast the sky.
6. to sew with stitches passing successively over an edge, esp. long stitches set at intervals to prevent raveling.
–verb (used without object)
7. to become cloudy or dark: By noon it had begun to overcast.
–noun
8. Meteorology. the condition of the sky when more than 95 percent covered by clouds.
9. 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; ME (v.); see over-, cast
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source Link To overcast
o·ver·cast   (ō'vər-kāst', ō'vər-kāst')   
adj.  
    1. Covered or obscured, as with clouds or mist.

    2. Clouded over.

  1. Gloomy; melancholy.

  2. Sewn with long, overlying stitches in order to prevent raveling, as the raw edges of fabric.

n.   (ō'vər-kāst')
  1. A covering, as of mist or clouds.

  2. An arch or support for a passage over another passage in a mine.

  3. A cast made in fishing that falls beyond the point intended.

  4. An overcast stitch or seam.

v.   (ō'vər-kāst', ō'vər-kāst') o·ver·cast, o·ver·cast·ing, o·ver·casts

v.   tr.
  1. To make cloudy or gloomy.

  2. To cast beyond (the intended point) with a fishing rod.

  3. To sew with long, overlying stitches.

v.   intr.
To become cloudy or gloomy.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Word Origin & History

overcast  (adj.)
1569, originally pp. of verb overcast (c.1290), "to cover, to overspread" as with a garment, usually of weather, from over + cast (q.v.). Earliest sense of the verb (c.1225) was "to overthrow."
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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