OVERCAST

Pronunciation (US):

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IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does overcast mean? 

• OVERCAST (noun)
  The noun OVERCAST has 4 senses:

1. the state of the sky when it is covered by clouds

2. gloomy semidarkness caused by cloud cover

3. a long whipstitch or overhand stitch overlying an edge to prevent raveling

4. a cast that falls beyond the intended spot

  Familiarity information: OVERCAST used as a noun is uncommon.

• OVERCAST (adjective)
  The adjective OVERCAST has 1 sense:

1. filled or abounding with clouds

  Familiarity information: OVERCAST used as an adjective is very rare.

• OVERCAST (verb)
  The verb OVERCAST has 3 senses:

1. make overcast or cloudy

2. sew over the edge of with long slanting wide stitches

3. sew with an overcast stitch from one section to the next

  Familiarity information: OVERCAST used as a verb is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• OVERCAST (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

The state of the sky when it is covered by clouds

Classified under:

Nouns denoting stable states of affairs

Synonyms:

cloud cover; cloudiness; overcast

Hypernyms ("overcast" is a kind of...):

bad weather; inclemency; inclementness (weather unsuitable for outdoor activities)

Derivation:

overcast (make overcast or cloudy)

overcast (filled or abounding with clouds)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Gloomy semidarkness caused by cloud cover

Classified under:

Nouns denoting stable states of affairs

Synonyms:

cloudiness; overcast

Hypernyms ("overcast" is a kind of...):

semidarkness (partial darkness)

Derivation:

overcast (make overcast or cloudy)

overcast (filled or abounding with clouds)

Sense 3

Meaning:

A long whipstitch or overhand stitch overlying an edge to prevent raveling

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Synonyms:

overcast; overcasting

Hypernyms ("overcast" is a kind of...):

whipping; whipstitch; whipstitching (a sewing stitch passing over an edge diagonally)

Derivation:

overcast (sew with an overcast stitch from one section to the next)

overcast (sew over the edge of with long slanting wide stitches)

Sense 4

Meaning:

A cast that falls beyond the intended spot

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Hypernyms ("overcast" is a kind of...):

cast; casting (the act of throwing a fishing line out over the water by means of a rod and reel)

• OVERCAST (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Filled or abounding with clouds

Synonyms:

cloud-covered; clouded; overcast; sunless

Similar:

cloudy (full of or covered with clouds)

Derivation:

overcast (gloomy semidarkness caused by cloud cover)

overcast (the state of the sky when it is covered by clouds)

• OVERCAST (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they overcast    ... he / she / it overcasts   
Past simple: overcasted   
Past participle: overcasted   
-ing form: overcasting   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Make overcast or cloudy

Classified under:

Verbs of raining, snowing, thawing, thundering

Synonyms:

cloud; overcast

Context example:

Fall weather often overcasts our beaches

Hypernyms (to "overcast" is one way to...):

darken (make dark or darker)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "overcast"):

fog up (get foggy)

haze (become hazy, dull, or cloudy)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s something

Antonym:

clear up (become clear)

Derivation:

overcast (gloomy semidarkness caused by cloud cover)

overcast (the state of the sky when it is covered by clouds)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Sew over the edge of with long slanting wide stitches

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Hypernyms (to "overcast" is one way to...):

run up; sew; sew together; stitch (fasten by sewing; do needlework)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "overcast"):

oversew (sew (two edges) with close stitches that pass over them both)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Derivation:

overcast; overcasting (a long whipstitch or overhand stitch overlying an edge to prevent raveling)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Sew with an overcast stitch from one section to the next

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Context example:

overcast books

Hypernyms (to "overcast" is one way to...):

run up; sew; sew together; stitch (fasten by sewing; do needlework)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Derivation:

overcast; overcasting (a long whipstitch or overhand stitch overlying an edge to prevent raveling)

 Context examples 

In another hour it had much increased, and the sky was more overcast, and blew hard.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

Rather than running on fossil fuels, the artificial leaf is powered by sunlight, although it still works efficiently on cloudy and overcast days.

(‘Artificial leaf’ successfully produces clean gas, University of Cambridge)

The sky was overcast, and somewhere far off an early cock crew.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

It was the first of June; yet the morning was overcast and chilly: rain beat fast on my casement.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

My father saw this change with pleasure, and he turned his thoughts towards the best method of eradicating the remains of my melancholy, which every now and then would return by fits, and with a devouring blackness overcast the approaching sunshine.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

The day had been dull and overcast, but the sun now burst through the clouds, a welcome omen, and shone upon the curving beach where together we had dared the lords of the harem and slain the holluschickie.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

As an added bonus, the researchers discovered that their light absorbers work even under the low levels of sunlight on a rainy or overcast day.

(‘Artificial leaf’ successfully produces clean gas, University of Cambridge)

But no hint to that effect escaping him and his countenance becoming more overcast, I suddenly remembered that I might have been all wrong, and was perhaps playing the fool unwittingly; and I began gently to withdraw myself from his arms—but he eagerly snatched me closer.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

As I looked up at them, the moon appeared momentarily in that part of the sky which filled their fissure; her disk was blood-red and half overcast; she seemed to throw on me one bewildered, dreary glance, and buried herself again instantly in the deep drift of cloud.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)