overspread Copy link Outline I. To spread or lay over1. indūco, xi, ctum, 3 (with acc. and dat., or as in Eng.)2. obdūco, 3 (usu. same constr. as preced.)II. To form a covering or shade over • overspread: I. To spread or lay over: 1. indūco, xi, ctum, 3 (with acc. and dat., or as in Eng.): to o. a wall with wax, parieti ceram i., Plin. 33, 7, 40: to o. (cover) shields made of bark with skins, scuta ex cortice facta pellibus i., Caes. B. G. 2, 33: also with super and acc. of that over which: id. B. C. 2, 10. 2. obdūco, 3 (usu. same constr. as preced.): Fig.: to o. a clear subject with obscurity, clarae rei tenebras ob., Cic. Ac. 2, 6, 16. See also to cover (I., 4, etc.). II. To form a covering or shade over: expr. by pass. of indūco, obdūco, obscūro: thick clouds o. the sky, *coelum densis nubibus obscuratur; coelo densae inductae (obductae) nubes tenebras efficiunt: v. overcast. ("Inducere sollenne de ventis coelum nubibus obscurantibus, sumptumque a pictoribus."--Gierig ad Plin. Ep. 2, 17, 7.) Phr.: when the curtain of night o.s. (the earth), obtenta nocte, Virg. G. 1, 248.