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Dictionary

Words, grammatical forms and meanings linked to the ontology.

overgrow en · VERB

Pronunciation

  • (US) audio
  • ō′vər-grō′

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *úp Proto-Indo-European *-er Proto-Indo-European *upér Proto-Germanic *uber Old English ofer- Middle English over- English over- English grow English overgrow From over- + grow.

Meanings

  1. (intransitive) To grow beyond one's boundaries or containment, or beyond the proper size.
  2. (transitive) To grow over; (of one thing) to cause (a second thing) to become overgrown (with or by the first thing).
    • The utmost they aimed at doing was thoroughly to clear the old Church of all the corruptions and superstitions which had disfigured it in the course of ages, and which, like the flaunting ivy overgrowing some ancient building, not only concealed the Church's fair proportions, but shut out the light of heaven from its windows, and more or less dislocated its structure. 1886, Edward Meyrick Goulburn, Meditations upon the liturgical gospels for the minor festivals, page 28:
    • One wall advertised a dense muddle of ivy overgrowing its prefab brick, while a miniature moat with a jerry-built bridge arcing over it snaked around one of the "halls" (as real universities dub their constituent structures). 2002, James Morrison, Broken Fever: Reflections of Gay Boyhood, page 196:
    • If there is ivy overgrowing things, then we shall clean it up. 2008, J. R. Ward, Lover Enshrined, page 470:

Forms

SpellingFeaturesLabelsSource
overgrew Tense=Past lexicographic
overgrows Number=Sing, Person=3, Tense=Pres lexicographic
overgrown Tense=Past, VerbForm=Part lexicographic
overgrowing Tense=Pres, VerbForm=Part lexicographic

Translations (9)

cs přerůst (to grow or spread over something so as to stifle it) · hu benő (to grow or spread over something so as to stifle it) · cs zarůstat (to grow or spread over something so as to stifle it) · hu túlburjánzik (to grow or spread over something so as to stifle it) · cs zarůst (to grow or spread over something so as to stifle it) · mi kōwaowao (to grow or spread over something so as to stifle it) · bg обраствам (to grow or spread over something so as to stifle it) · ota آزمق (to grow or spread over something so as to stifle it) · nl overgroeien (to grow or spread over something so as to stifle it)