overgo, v.
(əʊvəˈgəʊ)
Forms: see over adv. and go v. pa. tense. α. 1 oferéode, 4 -ȝede, -ȝide, -yod(e, Sc. 6 -ȝeid, 8 -yeed; β. 4– overwent.
[OE. ofergán = OLG. *oƀargân (MDu. overgaen, Du. overgaan), OHG. ubargân (MHG. übergân, -gên, Ger. übergehen): see over- in various senses.]
I. Transitive senses.
† 1. To come upon suddenly; to overtake; to catch, apprehend, detect. Obs. [over- 7, 14.]
| a 1000 Andreas 821 (Gr.) Hine..slæp ofereode. c 1000 ælfric Hom. (Th.) I. 86 Wæter-seocnyss hine ofereode. a 1300 Cursor M. 4721 (Cott.) Qualm has beistes al ouergan. 13.. Guy Warw. (A.) 3277 Ȝif he þe may ouer-go, He wil þe bren oþer slo. a 1425 Cursor M. 13700 (Trin.) A wif Þat wiþ horedome was ouergon. 1581 Marbeck Bk. of Notes 346 This bird [the ostrich]..cannot mount vp to flie aloft, but flickereth in such wise as he cannot be ouergone. |
2. a. To pass over (a wall, river, boundary, or line); to surmount; to cross. Obs. exc. dial. [over- 5, 12.]
| c 825 Vesp. Psalter xvii. 30 [xviii. 29] In gode minum ic ofergaa wall. c 1000 ælfric Hom. (Th.) II. 200 ærðan ðe hi þa Readan sæ ofereodon. c 1000 Sax. Leechd. III. 252 On langiendum daᵹum he ofer gæþ ðone suðran sunnstede. c 1250 Gen. & Ex. 3490 God bad hem ðat merke ouer-gon. 1382 Wyclif Deut. xxvii. 3 Jordan ouergoon. 1609 Daniel Civ. Wars iv. i, The bounds once ouer-gone, that hold men in, They neuer stay. 1657 W. Rand tr. Gassendi's Life Peiresc ii. 50 When Druentia, or Rhodanus over-went their banks. 1789 Ross Helenore 31 Ere I bridle drew, O'eryeed a' bounds afore I ever knew. |
† b. fig. To pass (a moral limit), to transgress. Phr. to overgo the balance (see quot. 1539); to overgo one's bed, to break wedlock. Obs.
| c 950 Lindisf. Gosp. Matt. xv. 2 Forhuon ðeᵹnas ðinne hia ofergæs..setnesa ðara ældra. 1382 Wyclif Ecclus. xxiii. 25 Eche man that ouergoth his bed [Vulg. transgreditur lectum]. 1539 Taverner Erasm. Prov. (1545) 141 Ouergo not the beame or balaunce. That is to say, do nothynge besyde ryght and equitie. |
† 3. To go or rise higher than, or over the top of; to surmount. Obs. [over- 1.]
| 1382 Wyclif Ps. xxxvii[i]. 5 For my wickidnesses ouerȝiden [1388 ben goon ouer] myn hed. 1613–16 W. Browne Brit. Past. ii. v. 692 Springs..swelled forth and overwent the top. a 1619 M. Fotherby Atheom. i. ix. §3 As much as loftiest Cedars show, The lowest Shrubs doe ouergoe. |
4. fig. To go beyond, exceed, excel. [over- 13.]
| c 1230 Hali Meid. 23 Maidenhad wið hundred fald ouer geað baðe. c 1375 Sc. Leg. Saints xxxvi. (Baptista) 179 For he oure-gais prophetis al & patriarkis þat we cal. 1471 Ripley Comp. Alch. Rec. viii. in Ashm. Theatr. Chem. Brit. (1652) 188 Pekoks fethers in color gay, the Raynbow whych shall overgoe. a 1586 Sidney Arcadia iii. Wks. 1724 II. 509 Abhorring to make the punishment overgo the offence. 1601 Holland Pliny II. 499 Euthycrates his third sonne ouerwent his brethren. a 1718 Penn Tracts Wks. 1726 I. 617 English Custom has very much overgone English Law in this Business of Oaths. 1825 Jefferson Autobiog. App., Wks. 1859 I. 113 He so far overwent the timid hesitations of his colleagues. 1825 Hogg Queen Hynde 151 Threatening their force to overgo. 1917 Ampleforth Jrnl. Jan. 127 He resolves to emulate, perhaps even to overgo, the ‘Orlando Furioso’. 1923 W. Renwick Spenser Selections p. ix, Ronsard's Franciade..Orlando Furioso. Spenser would overgo both. |
5. a. To overcome, overpower, get the better of; to oppress, overwhelm. Now dial. [over- 21]
| c 1205 Lay. 7712 Whær is þe ilke mon Þat me ne mæi mid mede ouer-gan? c 1400 Rom. Rose 6821 The stronge the feble overgoth. c 1430 How Good Wife taught Dau. 97 in Babees Bk., For with ȝiftis men may wommen ouer goon. 1535 Coverdale Hab. i. 3 Tyranny and violence are before me, power ouergoeth right. 1596 Spenser F.Q. v. ii. 7 With his powre he all doth overgo, And makes them subject to his mighty wrong. a 1611 Beaum. & Fl. Maid's Trag. iii. ii, I am so o'ergone with injuries Unheard-of. 1924 [see feather n. 1 b]. |
† b. To ‘get over’, overreach, cheat. Obs.
| c 1205 Lay. 15183 For nis nauer nan mon Þat me ne mai mid swikedome ouergan. 1382 Wyclif 1 Thess. iv. 6 That no man ouergo [so 1582 Rhem.] nether disseyue his brother in cause, or nede. 1587 Turberv. Trag. T. (1837) 139 The simple minde will soone be overgone. |
† 6. To go or spread over so as to cover. Obs. [over- 8, 9.]
| c 1000 Sax. Leechd. III. 272 Lyft is lichamlic ᵹesceaft swyð e þynne, seo ofer gæð ealne middaneard. 1390 Gower Conf. II. 183 A large cloude hem overwente. c 1450 tr. De Imitatione iii. xlii. 113 Derknesses shul not ouergo þe. c 1595 J. Dickenson Sheph. Compl. (1878) 8 As when a blacke thicke Meteore doth ore-goe Heau'ns light. a 1634 Chapman (T.), Rather, that the earth shall overgo Some one at least. |
7. To overrun, overflow, pass or spread over in a hostile or injurious way. Now dial. [over- 9.]
| c 1000 O.E. Chron. an. 993 (Parker MS.) [Unlaf] for..to Sandwic, and swa ðanon to ᵹipeswic, and þæt eall ofereode. a 1122 Ibid. an. 1070 (Laud MS.) Þæt land folc..wændon þæt he sceolde þet land ofer gan. a 1300 Cursor M. 10524 Ioseph þe gode..wel witstode Þe hunger þat egypte ouer⁓yod. Ibid. 11820 Þe scab ouer-gas [Trin. ouergooþ] his bodi all. 1546 in W. H. Turner Select. Rec. Oxford 186 So that the water may not overgoo and destroye the grounde. 1607 Norden Surv. Dial. v. 233 It is..good pasture, but so ouer⁓gone with Thistles, as we can by no meanes destroy them. 1675 R. Burthogge Causa Dei 95 Persons overgone with Wickedness and Vice. 1808–18 Jamieson, To ourgae. 1. To overrun. ‘He's ourgane with the scrubbie’. 1814 Nicholson Poet. Wks. (1897) 95 (E.D.D.) If no o'ergane wi' information, At least quite free frae affectation. |
8. a. To go or pass over the surface or extent of; to travel through, traverse. [over- 9, 16.]
| 13.. Guy Warw. (A.) 1777 Mani lond he hadde ouergo, To seche his lord wiþ sorwe & wo. 1387 Trevisa Higden (Rolls) VII. 83 Þis Ive..overȝede þe spaces of many landes. a 1425 Cursor M. 22132 (Trin.) Ouer al þere crist was wont to go He [Anticrist] shal ouer gone hem also. 1513 Douglas æneis vi. xiii. 99 Nevir..Hercules..Sa meikle space of erd or land ourȝeid. 1588 Shakes. L.L.L. v. ii. 196 How manie wearie steps, Of many wearie miles you haue ore-gone. 1850 Browning Easter Day xiv, I overwent Much the same ground of reasoning. 1854 A. E. Baker Northampt. Gloss. s.v., It is often said, when a person wishes to inspect a house or church, ‘I should like to over-go it’. |
† b. To tread over: = overgang v. 1. Obs.
| c 1470 Henry Wallace vi. 725 Stampyt in moss, and with rud hors ourgayne. |
† 9. To pass, live through, spend (time); also, of time, to pass over (a person). Obs. [over- 17, 4.]
| a 1300 Cursor M. 2640 Abram had þan Sex and fourscor yeir ouergan. 1588 Fraunce Lawiers Log. Ded., There bee almost seaven yeares now overgone mee since first I began to be a medler with these Logicall meditations. |
† 10. To go faster than, leave behind in going, outstrip, overtake. Obs. [over- 22.]
| 1530 Palsgr. 648/2 He is so lyght a man that he wyll sone overgo me. c 1611 Chapman Iliad x. 298 If it chance, that we be overgone By his more swiftness, urge him still to run upon our fleet. 1635 Quarles Embl. v. xi. (1718) 290 At length by flight, I over-went the pack. |
† 11. To pass over, pass by, let alone, omit. Obs. [over- 5 (b).]
| 1609 Daniel Civ. Wars viii. lxxvii, But, I must ouergoe these passages; And hasten on my way. 1622 Wither Mistr. Philar. Wks. (1633) 623 Her faire eyes doe checke me now, That I seem'd to passe them so, And their praises over-goe. |
II. Intransitive senses.
12. To go or pass by; to pass over or away; to pass (in time). Now dial. [over- 4.]
| c 893 K. ælfred Oros. v. ii. §5 Hie witon þeah þæt þæt ilce yfel ofereode butan ᵹeblote. c 897 ― Gregory's Past. C. lix. 447 Hu hrædlice se eorðlica hlisa ofergæð. a 1250 Owl & Night. 952 Þe nihtegale hi understod, An over-gan lette hire mod. c 1330 R. Brunne Chron. (1810) 220 Þe erle ansuerd nouht, he lete þat word ouer go. c 1374 Chaucer Troylus i. 790 (846) That as here Ioyes moten ouer gone [v.r. ouergon] So mote hire sorwes passen euerychone. c 1430 Hymns Virg. (1867) 51 Ful myche ioie haddist þou tho;..But riȝt soone it was ouer-goo. c 1580 Howers of Bless. Virg. 98 The yeeres of men, which so soone overgoe. 1623 Bingham Xenophon 64 They gladly remembred their trauel ouer-gone. 1871 W. Alexander Johnny Gibb xliii, The time's lang owregane. |
† 13. fig. To pass on to another part of a narrative, etc. (sometimes with implication of omission). Obs. [over- 4, 5 (b).]
| c 1250 Gen. & Ex. 1903 Hear haued moyses ouer-gon, Ðor-fore he wended eft agon. 1430–40 Lydg. Bochas i. ii. (1554) 4 Mine autor lightly overgoeth, Maketh of y⊇ age no special remembraunce. |
† 14. To go or pass over (to another place); to cross. Obs. [over- 10.]
| c 1330 R. Brunne Chron. (1810) 69 Edward is dede, allas! messengers ouerwent To William. |
Hence ˌoverˈgoing vbl. n., a going over; a transgression; a crossing; the point of going over, the brink; overˈgone ppl. a., gone out of use, obsolete; gone beyond bounds, far gone.
| 1382 Wyclif Lam. iii. 19 Recorde of porenesse and of myn ouergoing. 1581 G. Pettie tr. Guazzo's Civ. Conv. iii. (1586) 127 b, He is so overgone in fatherlie affection towardes them,..he cannot abide to see them trauaile and labour as he hath done. 1612 W. Sclater Christians Str. 9 What availes it..whether..by overgoing, or vndergoing; we be deprived of salvation? 1634 Rutherford Lett. (1862) I. 126 A man who was at the very overgoing of the brae and mountain; but God held a grip of him. 1654 Gataker Disc. Apol. 85 To be scandalized with these overgone, or overgrown expressions. 1903 J. K. Jerome Tea-Table Talk v. 95, I was very severe upon both the shortcomings and the overgoings of man. |