overprint

English

Etymology

From over- +‎ print.

Pronunciation

• (noun) IPA^(key): /ˈəʊvə(ɹ)ˌpɹɪnt/

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

• (verb) IPA^(key): /ˌəʊvə(ɹ)ˈpɹɪnt/

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

Noun

overprint (plural overprints)

1. (philately) The addition of new text on a previously printed stamp, usually to add a surcharge or change the face value.
2. (geology) The set of petrological, structural, and/or mineralogical characteristics superimposed onto rock by the action of geological processes over deep time, by analogy with the original sense of the word.
   • 2021 August, Masafumi Saitoh, Nicolas Olivier, Marion Gar on, Maud Boyet, Christophe Thomazo, Julien Alleon, Jean-François Moyen, Vincent Motto-Ros, Johanna Marin-Carbonne, “Metamorphic origin of anastomosing and wavy laminas overprinting putative microbial deposits from the 3.22 Ga Moodies Group (Barberton Greenstone Belt)”, in Precambrian Research‎^[1], volume 362, Elsevier BV, →DOI, archived from the original on 4 June 2024, page 106306:

     Although we do not exclude that some of the observed Moodies laminae were originally microbial mats, the mineral assemblage of the studied anastomosing and wavy laminae (i.e., mainly sericite associated with Ti oxide and rare carbonaceous material) shows a substantial metamorphic overprint, implying that similar laminae cannot be unambiguously associated with the concept of a flourishing Paleoarchean microbial life at 3.22 Ga.

   • 2018 January, Simone Tumiati, Stefano Zanchetta, Luca Pellegrino, Claudia Ferrario, Stefano Casartelli, Nadia Malaspina, “Granulite-facies Overprint in Garnet Peridotites and Kyanite Eclogites of Monte Duria (Central Alps, Italy): Clues from Srilankite- and Sapphirine-Bearing Symplectites”, in Journal of Petrology‎^[2], volume 59, number 1, Oxford University Press (OUP), →DOI, archived from the original on 14 November 2023, pages 115–151:

     This is the first report from the Alps of eclogite-facies rocks of supposed Alpine age showing a granulite-facies metamorphic overprint, which is, in contrast, well documented in the Variscan belt.

   • 2017 April, Ekaterina S. Kiseeva, Vadim S. Kamenetsky, Gregory M. Yaxley, Simon R. Shee, “Mantle melting versus mantle metasomatism – "The chicken or the egg" dilemma”, in Chemical Geology‎^[3], volume 455, Elsevier BV, →DOI, archived from the original on 12 July 2024, pages 120–130:

     The metasomatic overprint is represented mainly by enrichments in Na, K, Ba, Ti and LREE and the original source of this fluid remains unknown.

Translations

the addition of new text on a previously printed stamp

• Hungarian: felülnyomás (hu)

Verb

overprint (third-person singular simple present overprints, present participle overprinting, simple past and past participle overprinted)

1. To print over what has already been printed.
   • 1982, Steven Vickers, Robin Bradbeer, Sinclair ZX Spectrum: BASIC Programming:

     This is the way overprinting works on the ZX Spectrum: two papers or two inks give a paper, one of each gives an ink. This has the interesting property that if you overprint with the same thing twice you get back what you started off with.

2. (transitive, philately) To add an overprint to (a stamp).
3. (transitive) To print too many copies of.

   The unpopular comic book was overprinted, leaving many retailers with dozens of unsaleable copies.

4. (printing) To overlap different colours to avoid gaps.
5. (geology) To superimpose a new set of petrological, structural, and/or mineralogical characteristics onto rock by the action of geological processes over deep time, by analogy with the original sense of the word.
   • 2024 August, C. Johan Lissenberg, Andrew M. McCaig, Susan Q. Lang, Peter Blum, Natsue Abe, William J. Brazelton, Rémi Coltat, Jeremy R. Deans, Kristin L. Dickerson, Marguerite Godard, Barbara E. John, Frieder Klein, Rebecca Kuehn, Kuan-Yu Lin, Haiyang Liu, Ethan L. Lopes, Toshio Nozaka, Andrew J. Parsons, Vamdev Pathak, Mark K. Reagan, Jordyn A. Robare, Ivan P. Savov, Esther M. Schwarzenbach, Olivier J. Sissmann, Gordon Southam, Fengping Wang, C. Geoffrey Wheat, Lesley Anderson, Sarah Treadwell, “A long section of serpentinized depleted mantle peridotite”, in Science‎^[4], volume 385, number 6709, American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), →DOI, pages 623–629:

     Furthermore, these rocks are overprinted by seafloor weathering, which provides a challenge to reconstructing serpentinization processes.

   • 2017 March, Allan Ludman, John T. Hopeck, Henry N. Berry IV, “Provenance and paleogeography of post-Middle Ordovician, pre-Devonian sedimentary basins on the Gander composite terrane, eastern and east-central Maine: implications for Silurian tectonics in the northern Appalachians”, in Atlantic Geology‎^[5], volume 53, University of New Brunswick Libraries - UNB, →DOI, archived from the original on 25 February 2024, pages 063–085:

     Dominantly dextral shearing in the Chester zone occurred during post-Acadian plate adjustments around ca. 380 Ma (Ghanem et al. 2016), coeval with initial activity along the Norumbega fault system to the southeast and the shear fabrics overprint rocks on both upper and lower plates of the original thrust.

   • 2012 September, W.U. Mueller, R. Friedman, R. Daigneault, L. Moore, J. Mortensen, “Timing and characteristics of the Archean subaqueous Blake River Megacaldera Complex, Abitibi greenstone belt, Canada”, in Precambrian Research‎^[6], volumes 214–215, Elsevier BV, →DOI, archived from the original on 26 April 2024, pages 1–27:

     Although deformation overprints volcanic construction, several structural patterns are considered to be inherited from the pre-existing volcanic architecture.

Translations

to add an overprint

to overlap different colours to avoid gaps