English
overreach
Pronunciation
  • Verb:
    • (RP) IPA: /ˌəʊvəˈɹiːt͡ʃ/
    • (GA) IPA: /ˌoʊvə(ɹ)ˈɹit͡ʃ/
  • Noun:
    • (RP) IPA: /ˈəʊvə(ˌ)ɹiːt͡ʃ/
    • (GA) IPA: /ˈoʊvə(ɹ)ˌɹit͡ʃ/
Verb

overreach (overreaches, present participle overreaching; past and past participle overreached)

  1. (ambitransitive) To reach#Verb|reach above or beyond, especially to an excessive degree. [from 14th c.]
    Synonyms: Thesaurus:transcend
    1. (transitive, property law) To defeat#Verb|defeat or override#Verb|override a person's interest#Noun|interest in property; (Britain, specifically) of a holder of the legal title#Noun|title of real property: by mortgage#Verb|mortgaging or sell#Verb|selling the legal title to a third party, to cause#Verb|cause another person's equitable right#Noun|right in the property to be dissolve#Verb|dissolved and to be replaced by an equitable right in the money received from the third party.
  2. (ambitransitive, figuratively) To do something beyond an appropriate limit#Noun|limit, or beyond one's ability.
  3. (ambitransitive, reflexive, equestrianism) Of a horse#Noun|horse: to strike#Verb|strike the heel#Noun|heel of a forefoot with the toe of a hindfoot. [from 16th c.]
    • 1598, John Florio, “Attinto”, in A Worlde of Words, or Most Copious, and Exact Dictionarie in Italian and English, […], printed at London: By Arnold Hatfield for Edw[ard] Blount, OCLC 222555892 ↗, page 32 ↗, column 3:
      Attinto, [...] Alſo when a horſe is tainted or hurt, or ouerreacheth one foote with another, and withal doth hurt a ſinew.
  4. (ambitransitive, now, rare) To deceive, to swindle#Verb|swindle.
    Synonyms: cheat, defraud, Thesaurus:deceive
    • 1775, Richard Brinsley Sheridan, The Duenna, II.4:
      Don't you see that, by this step, I overreach him? I shall be entitled to the girl's fortune without settling a ducat on her!
  5. (intransitive, nautical) To sail#Verb|sail on one tack#Noun|tack farther than is necessary.
  6. (transitive, archaic) To get the better of, especially by artifice or cunning; to outwit. [from 16th c.]
    • c. 1590–1592, William Shakespeare, “The Taming of the Shrew”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: Printed by Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358 ↗, [Act III, scene ii], page 220 ↗:
      Wee'll ouer-reach the grey-beard Gremio, / The narrow prying father Minola, / The quaint Muſician, amorous Litio, / All for my Maſters ſake Lucentio.
    • c. 1599–1602, William Shakespeare, The Tragicall Historie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke: […] (Second Quarto), London: Printed by I[ames] R[oberts] for N[icholas] L[ing] […], published 1604, OCLC 760858814 ↗, [Act V, scene i] ↗:
      That ſkull had a tongue in it, and could ſing once, how the knave jowl#Verb|iowles it to the ground, as if twere Caines iawbone, that did the firſt murder, this might be the pate of a pollitician, which this aſſe now ore-reaches; one that would circumuent God, might it not?
      That skull had a tongue in it, and could sing once – how that knave [a gravedigger] throws it to the ground, as if it was the jawbone of Cain, who committed the first murder. This might have been the head of a politician, which this ass now gets the better of; one that could have talked its way around God, might it not?
    • 1674, John Milton, “Book IX”, in Paradise Lost. A Poem in Twelve Books, 2nd revised and augmented edition, London: Printed by S[amuel] Simmons […], OCLC 563123917 ↗, page 223 ↗:
      I from the influence of thy looks receave / Acceſs in every Vertue, in thy ſight / More wiſe, more watchful, ſtronger, if need were / Of outward ſtrength; while ſhame, thou looking on, / Shame to be overcome or over-reacht / Would utmoſt vigor raiſe, and rais'd unite.
Conjugation


Conjugation of overreach

infinitive (to) overreach
present tense past tense
1st-person singular overreachoverreached
2nd-person singularoverreachest*overreached, overreachedst*
3rd-person singularoverreaches, overreacheth#English|overreacheth* overreached#English|overreached
plural overreach
subjunctive overreach
imperative overreach —
participle> participlesoverreachingoverreached
* Archaic or obsolete.

Translations Noun

overreach

  1. (also, figuratively) An act#Noun|act of extending or reach#Verb|reaching over, especially if too far or much; overextension.
  2. (equestrianism) Of a horse#Noun|horse: an act of strike#Verb|striking the heel#Noun|heel of a forefoot with the toe of a hindfoot; an injury caused by this action.


This text is extracted from the Wiktionary and it is available under the CC BY-SA 3.0 license | Terms and conditions | Privacy policy 0.003
Offline English dictionary