overbear en · VERB
Pronunciation
- /əʊvəˈbɛː/ (UK)
- /ˌoʊ.vɚˈbɛɹ/ (US)
- (US) audio
Etymology
From Middle English overberen; equivalent to over- + bear.
Meanings
- (obsolete, transitive) To carry over.
-
(transitive) To push through by physical weight or strength; to overwhelm, overcome.
I attacked first and they were overborne, / Glad to apologize and even suing / Pardon for what they'd never thought of doing.
1951, Geoffrey Chaucer, translated by Nevill Coghill, The Canterbury Tales: Translated into Modern English (Penguin Classics), Penguin Books, published 1977, page 287:
-
(transitive) To prevail over; to dominate, overpower; to oppress.
It often fals, in course of common life, / That right long time is overborne of wrong […].
1596, Edmund Spenser, “Book V, Canto XI”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:
- (intransitive) To produce an overabundance of fruit.
Forms
| Spelling | Features | Labels | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| overbore | Tense=Past | lexicographic | |
| overbears | Number=Sing, Person=3, Tense=Pres | lexicographic | |
| overborne | Tense=Past, VerbForm=Part | lexicographic | |
| overbearing | Tense=Pres, VerbForm=Part | lexicographic |