oversea en · ADJ
Pronunciation
- /ˌəʊ.vəˈsiː/ (Received-Pronunciation)
- [ˌɐʉ̯.vɐˈsiː] (Australia, New-Zealand)
- /ˌɐʉ.vəˈsiː/ (Australia, New-Zealand)
- [ˌoʊ̯.vɚˈsi] (Canada, General-American)
- /ˌoʊ.vɚˈsi/ (Canada, General-American)
- [ˌəʊ̯.vəˈsiː] (Received-Pronunciation)
- (Southern-England) audio
Etymology
From Middle English over-se, over see, ouer sea, from Old English ofer sǣ (literally “over/across (the) sea”); equivalent to over + sea. Compare West Frisian oerseesk, Dutch overzee, German Übersee, Danish oversøisk.
Meanings
-
(UK, alt-of, alternative, not-comparable) Alternative form of overseas.
alt of overseas
It was the biggest thing in the town, and everybody I met was full of it. They were going to run an over-sea empire, and make no end of coin by trade.
1899 February, Joseph Conrad, “The Heart of Darkness”, in Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine, volume CLXV, number M, New York, N.Y.: The Leonard Scott Publishing Company, […], →OCLC, part I, page 199: