▪ I. overlord, n.
(ˈəʊvəˌlɔːd)
[over- 2 b.]
1. a. A lord superior; one who is the lord of other lords or rulers; a lord paramount, supreme lord.
| c 1200 Ormin 6903 Biforr þe Romanisshe king Þatt wass hiss oferrlaferrd. 13.. Coer de L. 4592 Kyng Rychard was her ovyr-lord. c 1470 Henry Wallace i. 67 Byschope Robert..said that ‘we deny Ony our lord, bot the gret God abuff’. 1547 Reg. Privy Council Scot. I. 78 Siclik of all uthair ourlordis..baith of vassallis and subvassallis. 1609 Skene Reg. Maj. 17 The ane sall be over-lord, and the other sall be vasall. 1647 Digges Unlawf. Taking Arms 82 As holding of an over Lord, or Lord paramount, who is the King. 1814 Scott Wav. liii, The command of his king and overlord. 1844 Ld. Brougham Brit. Const. xi. (1862) 146 The King, the universal overlord of the realm. |
b. transf. A person (occas. an animal) in a position of superiority, authority, or power; spec. in British politics, a member of the House of Lords given charge of one or more government ministries; hence in the politics of other countries, and in industry.
| 1932 S. Zuckerman Social Life Monkeys xiv. 228 Baboons are not promiscuous. Very few observations have been made of females having sexual relations with males other than their overlords. 1939 Joyce Finnegan's Wake i. 97 To ongoad and unhume the great shipping mogul and underlinen overlord. 1951 Economist 8 Dec. 1394/2 Departmental ministers subject to an overlord would, under arrangements of this kind, rarely have direct access to the cabinet. 1953 Ann. Reg. 1952 36 The Opposition had long been critical of Mr. Churchill's ‘overlords’—super-departmental Ministers screened from cross-examination by their membership of ‘another place’. 1954 Economist 31 July 355/1 General Perón..did reduce the nominal number of ministries..; but this was accompanied by the appointment of four..‘overlords’..concerned with defence, economic, technical, and political affairs. 1957 Observer 13 Oct. 1/4 Instead of appointing a missile overlord, as is being urged, the President has referred the whole problem..to yet another committee. 1969 Daily Tel. 20 Nov. 3/1 Lord Beeching..is being tipped for the job of ‘overlord’ to run BOAC and BEA. 1970 Guardian 11 May 10/1 The old problem of the Overlord Minister which re-emerged from the Churchillian past after Mr Wilson's last big reshuffle. 1970 Daily Tel. 11 Sept. 6/5 Under the reorganisation Vauxhall will become part of a European division of General Motors... Mr L. Ralph Mason..will become the European ‘overlord’. 1977 Time 21 Feb. 24/2 In Mexico the destruction of planted fields and the arrests of several overlords,..have led to fierce internecine battles for control of the business. |
2. (With capital initial.) The code-name for the allied invasion of German-occupied Normandy in June 1944.
| 1943 J. Reith Diary 18 Sept. (1975) vi. 310 Meeting..about a ridiculous Churchill demand for a twenty-five per cent increase in Overlord (invasion of Europe) force. 1947 J. R. Deane Strange Alliance i. ii. 22, I emphasized our commitments to Overlord, the Mediterranean, the Pacific. 1948 C. Falls Second World War xxiv. 219 The title given to the plan for the invasion of the European Continent from the west, Operation Overlord, possessed a special significance. It was the over-riding operation. 1950 W. S. Churchill Second World War III. ii. xxxiv. 585 It was my earnest desire that the crossing of the Channel and the liberation of France (the operation then called ‘Round⁓up’, which was subsequently changed to ‘Overlord’) should take place in the summer of 1943. 1961 E. Waugh Unconditional Surrender iii. ii. 239 ‘Overlord’, that one huge hazardous offensive operation on which, it seemed, the fate of the world depended. 1974 G. Markstein Cooler lxvi. 230 We've been working very hard to sell them the idea that the Pas de Calais is the objective of Overlord. |
▪ II. overlord, v.
(əʊvəˈlɔːd)
[over- 2.]
trans. To lord it over, domineer over; to rule as an overlord or superior authority. Hence overˈlorded, overˈlording ppl. adjs.
| c 1629 Layton Syons Plea (ed. 2) 8 Overlording Prelacy, sitting in the Temple of God is Popish Prelacy. 1644 Maxwell Prerog. Chr. Kings 144 When Zedekiah was over-lorded by his Nobles, he could neither save himselfe nor his people. 1881 A. Roberts Comp. Rev. V.N.T. ii. iv. 74 His will overlorded..by an alien might. 1910 Galsworthy Sheaf (1916) 132 Our dim consciousness of this serene and overlording principle of Equity. 1959 Catholic Herald 27 Nov. 5/3 The Ukrainians of Kiev..resisted the attempts of the Moscow Orthodox Patriarchate to overlord them. 1961 B. Vawter Conscience of Israel vi. 139 A fact that can help account for its economic expansion in a world overlorded by the Great King. 1966 Economist 24 Sept. 1234/3 They were feeling too overlorded. 1970 Daily Tel. 11 May 16/5 The appointment of a single executive to overlord the Dutch and British ends of the business would represent a major switch. Ibid. 16 Oct. 19/5 (heading) David Barran to ‘overlord’ Shell. |