| 释义 |
overspread, v.|əʊvəˈsprɛd|
[OE. ofersprǽdan, f. ofer-, over- 8, 9; in MHG. überspreiten.]
1. trans. To spread (something) over or upon something else; to diffuse over a place or region.
c961Rule St. Benet liii. (Schröer 1885) 84 Beon þær symble bedd ᵹenihtsumlice ofersprædde. c1375Cursor M. 5486 (Fairf.) Þe ospring þat of Ioseph bred was mykil in lande ouerspred. 1567Gude & Godlie B. (S.T.S.) 173 This nycht I call Idolatrie, The clude ouerspred, Hypocresie.
2. To spread something over (something else); to cover with something spread upon the surface.
c1386Chaucer Knt.'s T. 2013 After this, Theseus hath ysent After a beere, and it al ouer spradde With clooth of gold. 1608Shakes. Per. i. ii. 24 With hostile forces he'll o'erspread the land. 1860Hawthorne Marb. Faun (1878) II. ix. 104 Dealers had..overspread them with scanty awnings. 1879Browning Ivan Ivanovitch 222.
b. in pass. with with (the subject being left indeterminate).
c1275Lay. 19045 Was þat kineworþe bed Al mid palle ouer sprad. c1375Sc. Leg. Saints vii. (Jacobus minor) 813 Al þe feld, þat wes our-sprad With fare quhyte dew a-bout þat sted. 1563Mirr. Mag., Buckingham vi, Northampton fyeld with armed men orespred. 1647May Hist. Parl. iii. iii. 55 The whole Kingdome..was now overspread with a generall Warre. 1748Anson's Voy. ii. xii. 261 High mountains overspread with trees. 1870Bryant Iliad I. ii. 70 Pyrasus Sacred to Ceres and o'erspread with flowers.
3. Of a thing: To spread or extend over (something else); to diffuse itself over; to cover completely. lit. and fig.
c1205Lay. 14188 Swa muchel lond..Swa wule anes bule hude ælches weies ouer-spræden. 1297R. Glouc. (Rolls) 7803 He wende him in to france, & þe contreie ouer spradde, & robbede & destruede. c1330Assump. Virg. 864 (B.M. MS.) A lyȝt cloude..ouer-sprad hem euery man. 1426Lydg. De Guil. Pilgr. 14555 My mantel overspredeth al. 1594T. B. La Primaud. Fr. Acad. ii. 9 Being heires of that corruption that hath ouerspread the whole nature of man. 1697Dryden Virg. Georg. ii. 254 Here wild Olive-shoots o'erspread the Ground. 1748Smollett Rod. Rand. xvii. (1804) 99 You Scotchmen have overspread us..as the locusts did Egypt. 1863Geo. Eliot Romola vi, A pink flush over⁓spread her face.
absol.1651C. Cartwright Cert. Relig. To Rdr., Surely, if Popery overspread againe, barbarism and illiterateness is a most likely means to effect it.
Hence overˈspreading vbl. n., the action of spreading over; ppl. a. that spreads over. Also ˈoverspread n., the fact of spreading over; concr. that which is spread over.
1563J. Man Musculus' Commonpl. 16 b, The beginning of sinne, and the ouerspreading of it abrode. 1610Willet Hexapla Dan. 64 In the bedchamber there was an ouerspreading vine made of gold. 1627Sanderson Serm. I. 265 Those general truths, which by the mercy of God were preserved amid the foulest overspreadings of popery. 1826R. Hall Wks. VI. 34 The overspreading of thick darkness. 1866Reader 31 Mar. 331 The main contour of surface..was acquired prior to the overspread of the glacial series. |