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Dictionary

Words, grammatical forms and meanings linked to the ontology.

overvote en · NOUN

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- Proto-Indo-European *h₁wegʷʰ- Proto-Indo-European *-yeti Proto-Indo-European *-éyeti Proto-Indo-European *h₁wogʷʰéyeti Proto-Italic *woɣʷeō Proto-Indo-European *-tós Proto-Italic *-tos Proto-Italic *woɣʷetos Proto-Italic *wowitos Latin vōtus Latin vōtumder. English vote English overvote From over- + vote.

Meanings

  1. (US) A case in which a voter has marked a ballot for more choices than allowed by the rules
    • An overvote that took the form of punching Gore's chad and then writing his name (or Lieberman's) in the place for a write-in candidate would unambiguously manifest the voter's intention to vote for Gore. 2001, Richard A. Posner, Breaking the Deadlock, →ISBN, page 78:
  2. A case in which more votes are cast in a voter's name than allowed under the rules
    • Overvotes are a relatively common phenomenon for shares held in a street name. 1978, Martin Lipton et al., Takeovers and Freezeouts, →ISBN, page 17:

Forms

SpellingFeaturesLabelsSource
overvotes Number=Plur lexicographic

overvote en · VERB

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- Proto-Indo-European *h₁wegʷʰ- Proto-Indo-European *-yeti Proto-Indo-European *-éyeti Proto-Indo-European *h₁wogʷʰéyeti Proto-Italic *woɣʷeō Proto-Indo-European *-tós Proto-Italic *-tos Proto-Italic *woɣʷetos Proto-Italic *wowitos Latin vōtus Latin vōtumder. English vote English overvote From over- + vote.

Meanings

  1. (US) To spoil a ballot by marking it for more choices than allowed by the rules
    • […] a poll worker can manually override the program and accept the ballot, even though it has been overvoted or undervoted. 2005, United States Government Accountability Office, Elections, →ISBN, page 10:
  2. To cast more votes than allowed under the rules
    • I know a great deal of difficulty ensues, and frequently brokers' shares are overvoted. 1955, Stock Market Study, page 1429:
  3. (obsolete) To outvote or overrule
    • Caleb and Joshua would have been overvoted by almost six hundred thousand Israelites; […] 1653, William Jenkyn, An Exposition Upon the Epistle of Jude, published 1839, page 119:

Forms

SpellingFeaturesLabelsSource
overvoting Tense=Pres, VerbForm=Part lexicographic
overvotes Number=Sing, Person=3, Tense=Pres lexicographic
overvoted Tense=Past, VerbForm=Part lexicographic
overvoted Tense=Past lexicographic

Deriveds

overvoter

Relateds

subvote · supervote · undervote · outvote