Etymologically
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overlap

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Pronunciation

  • UK: /ˈəʊvəlæp/[1]
  • US: /ˈoʊvɚlæp/[1]

Etymology

It is formed from English over- + lap (“to fold, wrap”),[2][3][4][5][6] compare the earlier phrase “lap over”, to extend beyond, recorded from the 1630s.[4][2] The verb in this sense is not found in Old English; it is probably formed from the noun meaning a fold or flap of a garment,[2][4][7] which goes back to Old English læppa, related to Old Saxon lappo, Dutch lap and German Lappen (“rag, flap”).[4][2][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

To fold or wrap over: about 1612, in Strachey's Historie of Travell into Virginia, a rare use that soon died out.[2] The Shorter Oxford's first sense is a Scots one of the early 17th century, building a boat of planks that each cover part of the plank below.[3]

Semantic evolution

After a fencing use, crossing one's blade over an opponent's (1692),[2] the verb came to mean causing one thing to lie over another (1717) and lying over part of something (1726, in an anatomy of the bones), with the figurative sense of coinciding partly with something;[2][4] Merriam-Webster dates its first transitive sense to 1704.[5] It has been used intransitively, of things that partly overlie each other, since 1799,[2] for covering and extending beyond something since 1802,[2] and in geology of a formation that extends beyond an older one beneath it since 1830.[2] The noun is recorded from 1813,[2][4] although the Shorter Oxford has an earlier Scots overlap nail for fixing overlapping planks.[3] Its technical senses came from geology (1830), yacht racing (1898), railway signalling (1925), linguistics (1942), computing (1963), rugby (1960) and football (1969).[2] In Scottish and northern English building and slating, to overlap was to lay one stone or slate partly over another.[9]

Timeline

  • c. 1612 – to fold over, wrap (obsolete).[2]
  • 1692 – in fencing, to cross an opponent's blade.[2]
  • 1704 – first known transitive use, according to Merriam-Webster.[5]
  • 1726 – to extend over part of something; to coincide partly.[2][4]
  • 1799 – intransitive, to lie partly over each other.[2]
  • 1802 – to cover and extend beyond.[2]
  • 1813 – noun, an instance or degree of overlapping.[2][4]
  • 1830 – in geology, of strata.[2]
  • 1960 – noun, in rugby.[2]

Modern meaning

Verb

  1. Of two or more things, to lie or extend partly over each other: The roof tiles overlap to keep out the rain.
  2. To lie over and cover part of something.
  3. To cover and extend beyond something.
  4. To coincide partly, in time, subject or scope: His holiday overlapped with hers by two days.

Noun

  1. A part that overlaps, or the amount by which it does.
  2. The fact or condition of overlapping; an area that two things have in common.
  3. (geology) The extension of upper beds of rock beyond the lower ones.
  4. (sport) In rugby, a situation in which the attackers outnumber the defenders; in football, a run by a player outside and past the one with the ball.

Usage notes

A rarer verb spelled overlap, of water lapping or rippling over something (1843), is formed with the verb lap, to lick up.[2]

References

  1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  5. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  6. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
  7. ^ Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
  8. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  9. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)