overbearance
(-ˈbɛərəns)
[f. prec. + -ance: cf. abearance, forbearance.]
† 1. The action of bearing or weighing down; preponderance. Obs.
| 1639 Ld. Digby, etc. Lett. conc. Relig. (1651) 121 A confession of the ballances being so equally poysed in this affaire..that the overbearances of either scale is hardly perceptible. |
2. Overbearing behaviour; imperiousness.
| 1760–72 H. Brooke Fool of Qual. (1859) I. ix. 216 Will this benevolent and lowly man retain the same front of haughtiness, the same brow of overbearance? 1863 J. Sherman in Mem. 152 The overbearance of one ruling spirit made it pretty plain that I must either sacrifice my own opinion of right and wrong, or be ever at war. 1884 Law Times 20 Sept. 347/1 A judge who has not either of these checks may acquire an inveterate habit of overbearance. |