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Origin and history of overt

overt(adj.)

early 14c., "open; unfastened" (originally literal, of clothing, a book, etc.; this sense is now obsolete), from Old French overt (Modern French ouvert), past participle of ovrir "to open," from Latin aperire "to open, uncover," from PIE compound *ap-wer-yo- from *ap- "off, away" (see apo-) + root *wer- (4) "to cover." Compare Latin operire "to cover," from the same root with PIE prefix *op- "over;" and Lithuanian atverti "open," užverti "shut." The meaning "clear, open or plain to view, manifest, revealed" is from late 14c.

Entries linking to overt

"open, evident, undisguised," early 14c., from Old French apert "obvious, evident, visible, plain to see," and directly from Latin apertus "open, uncovered, unclosed," past participle of aperire "to open, uncover" (see overt). Related: Apertly.

1690s, "to bask in the sun," from Latin apricatus, past participle of apricari "to bask in the sun," from apricus "exposed" (to the sun; the antonym of opacus "shady"). This is perhaps contracted from *apericus, a derivative of aperire "to open" (see overt). The transitive sense is recorded from 1851. Related: Aprication.

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Trends of overt

adapted from books.google.com/ngrams/ with a 7-year moving average; ngrams are probably unreliable.

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