overcast

From Middle English overcasten, equivalent to over- +‎ cast. Compare Swedish överkast.

Adjective and noun

• (Received Pronunciation) enPR: ōʹvə-käst', IPA^(key): /ˈəʊvəˌkɑːst/

  • Audio (UK)

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• (General American) enPR: ōʹvər-kăst', IPA^(key): /ˈoʊvɚ.kæst/

Verb

• (Received Pronunciation) enPR: ō'və-kästʹ, IPA^(key): /ˌəʊvəˈkɑːst/

  • Audio (UK)

    (file)

• (General American) enPR: ō'vər-kăstʹ, IPA^(key): /ˌoʊvɚˈkæst/
• Rhymes: -ɑːst

overcast (plural overcasts)

1. (obsolete) An outcast.
2. A cloud covering all of the sky from horizon to horizon; cloudy.

overcast (comparative more overcast, superlative most overcast)

1. Covered with clouds; overshadowed; darkened; (meteorology) more than 90% covered by clouds.
2. (figuratively) In a state of depression; gloomy; melancholy.

overcast (third-person singular simple present overcasts, present participle overcasting, simple past and past participle overcast)

1. (transitive, obsolete) To overthrow.
2. (transitive) To cover with cloud; to overshadow; to darken.
3. (transitive) To make gloomy; to depress.
4. (intransitive, obsolete) To be or become cloudy.
5. (transitive, obsolete) To transform.
6. (transitive, bookbinding) To fasten (sheets) by overcast stitching or by folding one edge over another.

• overcast in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911
• overcast in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913

• overacts