▪ I. override, v.
(əʊvəˈraɪd)
[OE. oferr{iacu}dan to ride across: see over- 5, 9, 22, 14, 27.]
1. a. trans. To ride over or across; to cross by riding. lit. or fig.
| a 900 tr. Bæda's Hist. iii. xii. [xiv.] (1890) 196 Geaf he & sealde þæt betste hors..ðæt he hwæðre on þæm meahte fordas oferridan, þonne he to hwelcere ea cwome. 1801 Southey Thalaba xi. xl, Now is the ebb, and till the ocean flow We cannot over-ride the rocks. 1825 Longfellow Spirit of Poetry 9 When the fast ushering star of morning comes O'er-riding the gray hills with golden scarf. |
b. To ride all over (a country), esp. with an armed force, so as to harry, crush opposition, etc.
| c 1350 Will. Palerne 4147, I wol þat reaume ouer-ride & rediliche destrue. 1375 Barbour Bruce v. 471 Þai durst nocht ȝeit tak on hand Till our-ride þe land planly. 1470–85 Malory Arthur v. x, He hath ben rebelle vnto Rome and ouer ryden many of theyr londes. c 1500 Three Kings' Sons 144 They counseiled the kynge to tary not, but to ouir-ride his reaume. |
2. To ride over or upon (the fallen); to overthrow and trample down by riding.
| c 1330 R. Brunne Chron. (1810) 18 Bituex vndernon & noen was þe feld alle wonnen, For alle þat wild abide were ouer riden & ronnen. c 1386 Chaucer Knt.'s T. 1164 The Cartere ouer ryden with his Carte Vnder the wheel ful lowe he lay adoun. 1470–85 Malory Arthur ix. xxxiii, Thenne foote hote syr Palomydes cam vpon sir Tristram as he was vpon foot to haue ouer ryden hym. a 1557 Diurn. Occurr. (1833) 45 The lord Gray with the bairdit horss..ordaynit to have ourriden the wangaird of the Scottis. a 1845 Hood Desert-Born xii, 'Twas my unhappy fortune once to over-ride a youth! |
3. fig. a. To ‘trample under foot’, set oneself forcibly above (an ordinance, right, etc.); to set aside arrogantly, set at nought, supersede; to assume or have authority superior to, to prevail in authority over.
to override one's commission: to go beyond one's commission, exceed the power granted under the commission, discharge one's office in a high-handed and arbitrary manner.
| 1827 Hallam Const. Hist. (1876) I. vi. 349 The unconstitutional and usurped authority of the star-chamber over⁓rode every personal right. a 1850 J. C. Calhoun Wks. (1874) III. 589 The Constitution must override the deeds of cession, whenever they come in conflict. 1857 Gen. P. Thompson Audi Alt. I. xxi. 76 Such difficulties..occur only where men are not wise, or where the wise are over-ridden. 1874 H. R. Reynolds John Bapt. v. §1. 296 Some of the methods used to over-ride or solve this obvious difficulty. 1888 Bryce Amer. Commw. I. xxviii. 434 note, These provisions are overridden by the fifteenth constitutional amendment. |
b. To prevail or dominate over.
| 1867 F. Francis Angling i. 29 Owing to these causes, they [dace] soon considerably outnumber and override the trout. 1932 Amer. Jrnl. Physiol. C. 116 There is a significant difference between the amounts of theelin needed to blot out the normal progestational picture as compared to the amount it takes to over-ride a rabbit unit of injected corporin. |
c. To cause the operation of (an automatic device) to be suspended, esp. in favour of manual control.
| 1946 [implied in overriding ppl. adj. below]. 1949 Gloss. Aeronaut. Terms (B.S.I.) ii. 11 Boost control override, a device to override the boost control so that a pressure higher than the normal controlled pressure can be obtained. 1967 Instrumentation Technol. Aug. 38/1 (caption) Differential pressure across column overrides temperature control. 1971 Daily Tel. 20 Oct. 2/2 It has four forward gears and reverse controlled by a speed-sensing governor which can be overridden by the driver using a gear lever. 1975 Nature 20 Mar. 193/1 An interactive computer display system using manual intervention where necessary to override automatic procedures has proved adequate. |
† 4. To pass beyond or come up to by riding faster; to overtake by or in riding; to outride. Obs.
| 1441 Plumpton Corr. (Camden) p. lvi, The souldiers..thought to have overridden and slayne this said forty persons. 1558 T. Phaer æneid. iv. I iij b, Askanius..somtyme these, and sometyme those, w{supt} swift course ouerrydes. 1597 Shakes. 2 Hen. IV, i. i. 30 My Lord, I ouer-rod him on the way. 1642 Lanc. Tracts (Chetham) 64 We over-rode our Foote being carried with a fervent desire to overtake the enemie. |
5. To ride (a horse) too much, to exhaust by excessive riding.
| 1600 [see overridden below]. c 1621 in Hore Hist. Newmarket (1885) I. 355 These gentlemen's horses..being over⁓rid, past their strength and breath. 1773 Johnson Note on Shaks. Hen. V, iii. v, It is common to give horses over⁓ridden or feverish..a mash. 1890 ‘R. Boldrewood’ Col. Reformer (1891) 273 He discovered that there was no other stage available without over-riding Osmund. |
6. To extend or pass over; to slip or lie over, to be superimposed on; Surg. to overlap, as when a bone is fractured and one piece slips over the other.
| 1852 J. Wiggins Embanking 236 The tendency of these land-slips to override any such footing. 1882 Geikie Text Bk. Geol. vi. v. (1885) 892 A northern ice-sheet which overrode Canada. Ibid. 898 As the ice-sheet had overridden the land. 1886 Willis & Clark Cambridge II. 218 The parlour..retains its ancient ceiling of molded beams over-riding the instrusive partitions. |
Hence overˈridden ppl. a., that has been ridden too hard, exhausted by excessive riding; overˈriding vbl. n. and ppl. a.: see the vb.; spec. overriding commission, an extra or additional commission. Also ˌoverˈridingly adv.
| 1600 Heywood 1 Edw. IV, Wks. 1874 I. 27 Like a troop of rank oreridden jades. 1830 H. N. Coleridge Grk. Poets (1834) 186 The supremacy of the Jupiter of the Iliad does not seem openly incumbered by any overriding fate. 1876 Fox Bourne Locke I. vi. 276 Its avowed overriding of the decisions of parliament. 1883 Lapworth in Geol. Mag. Aug. 338 The advancing movement of the over-riding and under-thrust masses. 1892 Syd. Soc. Lex., Overriding,..the displacement of the fractured ends of a bone, consisting in one lying over or upon the other. 1894 Doyle Mem. S. Holmes 61 You are to have an over-riding commission of 1 per cent. on all business done by your agents. 1906 Westm. Gaz. 15 Feb. 11/1 As a rule, the terms of commission, both underwriting and ‘over-riding’, are very literal. 1930 W. S. Churchill My Early Life xiii. 184, I had not heard a word in Cairo of how Sir Herbert Kitchener had received the over-riding by the War Office of his wishes upon my appointment. 1930 A. Palmer Company Secretarial Pract. 47 Companies frequently pay ‘overriding’ commission also. This is a commission paid to persons for procuring other persons who are willing to underwrite blocks of shares. 1946 R. A. McFarland Human Factors Air Transport Design x. 148 Many pilots feel..that in the event of an emergency they must have immediate access to engine instruments. Overriding throttle controls for the pilot may be advisable. 1956 A. H. Compton Atomic Quest ii. 126 If Oppenheimer has an ‘Achilles’ heel, it is his overriding loyalty to his friends. 1957 J. S. Huxley Relig. without Revelation (rev. ed.) ix. 232 If the full development of human individuals and the fulfilment of human possibilities is the over-riding aim of our evolution, then any over-population which brings malnutrition and misery, or which erodes the world's material resources.., is evil. 1968 Lebende Sprachen XIII. 5/1 All diverse organizations must be harnessed together into a single team directed towards the single overriding objective. 1969 W. K. Roots Fund. Temperature Control v. 118 An inexpensive overriding command system provides both the ‘night shut down’ and ‘vacant-room shut down’, features that can significantly reduce the heating cost of public buildings. 1973 A. Quinton Nature of Things 378 He cannot..maintain that morality is overridingly authoritative in this sense. |
▪ II. ˈoverride, n.
[f. prec. vb.]
The action or process of suspending an automatic function; a device for performing this. Freq. attrib.
| 1946 Aircraft Engin. XVIII. 112/1 A manual over-ride for landing operation would be necessary. 1949 [see override v. 3 c]. 1952 A. Y. Bramble Air-Plane Flight x. 154 There is an ‘over-ride’ control introduced, by which the automatic limitation of boost can be exceeded at the will of the pilot in particular circumstances. 1957 Practical Wireless XXXIII. 697/1 The only connections yet to be made are those coupling up the override switch to the appropriate part in the circuit. 1963 Amat. Photographer 7 Aug. 43/1 (Advt.), Fully automatic [camera] with manual over-ride. 1968 Instrumentation Technol. Aug. 53/1 Overrides can be designed to provide gradual, rather than abrupt, corrective action and they can function in both directions so that manual reset is not required. 1974 ‘A. Haig’ Peruvian Printout 39 He pressed the override switch and the computer came instantly to life. 1976 Offshore Platforms & Pipelining 203/1 Mechanical overrides are provided should any of the automatic equipment fail. |