different between vaporous vs overcast

English

Alternative forms

• vapourous

Etymology

From Middle French vapoureus, from Late Latin vap?r?sus (“full of steam”).

Pronunciation

• (US) IPA^(key): /?ve?p???s/

Adjective

vaporous (comparative more vaporous, superlative most vaporous)

1. Relating to vapour; misty, foggy, obscure, insubstantial
   • 1594, William Shakespeare, The Rape of Lucrece

     O hateful, vaporous, and foggy night!

   • 1605, Francis Bacon, The Advancement of Learning

     So whosoever shall entertain high and vaporous imaginations, instead of a laborious and sober inquiry of truth, shall beget hopes and beliefs of strange and impossible shapes.

English

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

Adjective and noun

• (Received Pronunciation) enPR: ??v?-käst', IPA^(key): /???v??k??st/
• (General American) enPR: ??v?r-k?st', IPA^(key): /?o?v?.kæst/

Verb

• (Received Pronunciation) enPR: ?'v?-käst?, IPA^(key): /???v??k??st/
• (General American) enPR: ?'v?r-k?st?, IPA^(key): /?o?v??kæst/
• Rhymes: -??st

Noun

overcast (plural overcasts)

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

Adjective

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.

Translations

Verb

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.

Translations

References

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

Anagrams

• overacts