Dictionary

overgreat en · ADJ

Etymology

From Middle English overgrete; equivalent to over- + great.

Meanings

1. Excessively great.
   • Oligarchies […] sometimes made men overgreat.
   • "I like it not, fair sir. The weight is overgreat," he whispered to the Prince. 1906, Arthur Conan Doyle, Sir Nigel, W. Briggs, page 331:
   • He did particularly run over every one of the officers and commanders, and shewed me how I had reason to mistrust every one of them, either for their falsenesse or their overgreat power, being too high to fasten a real friendship in, and did give me a common but a most excellent [saying] to observe in all my life. 1876, Mynors Bright, Richard Griffin Braybrooke, Samuel Pepys, Diary and Correspondence of Samuel Pepys, Esq., Bickers and Son, page 383:
   • "We were cruel only to be kind, but I grant you that the feeling of being pursued is unpleasant. I had a longing to stay and fight it out with that dastardly Colonel. But it would have been overgreat a risk for you, and your safety was the main object. However, I have an instinct that I shall meet the fellow again, and then maybe shall 'have a chance of fighting him." 1901, Edna Lyall, In Spite of All: A Novel, Longmans, Green, and Company, page 178:
   • an overgreat reduction

Forms