overleap, v.
(əʊvəˈliːp)
[OE. oferhléapan; answering in form to MDu. overlôpen, Du. overloopen, MHG. überloufen, Ger. überlaufen, ‘to run over, overrun, overflow’; OHG. had a deriv. ubarhlaupnissî prevarication, transgression.]
1. trans. To leap over, across, or to the other side of. [over- 5.]
| a 900 tr. Bæda's Hist. v. vi. (1890) 400 Wæs þæt hit sume sloh on þæm wæᵹe mid swiðþran ræse oferhleop and oferstælde. 1605 Shakes. Macb. i. iv. 49 That is a step, On which I must fall downe, or else o're-leape, For in my way it lyes. 1667 Milton P.L. iv. 181 Th' arch-fellon..At one slight bound high overleap'd all bound Of Hill or highest Wall. 1860 Motley Netherl. (1868) I. i. 5 The ambition of the Spaniard, which has overleaped so many lands and seas. |
b. fig. with immaterial obj. (usually bounds, limits, or the like).
| 1775 De Lolme Eng. Const. i. xii. (1853) 118 Procuring a public advantage by overleaping restraints. 1875 Jowett Plato (ed. 2) V. 247 His ingenuity does indeed far overleap the heads of all your great men. |
† c. intr. To leap over. Obs. rare.
| 1382 Wyclif Ecclus. xxxviii. 37 [33] In to the chirche thei shul not ouerlepen [Vulg. transilient]. |
2. trans. To pass over, pass by, omit, leave out, ‘skip’. (Now only as consciously fig. from 1.)
| c 1000 Sax. Leechd. III. 264 Se dæᵹ is ᵹehaten saltus lunæ, þæt is ðæs monan hlyp, for þan þe he oferhlypð ænne dæᵹ. 1303 R. Brunne Handl. Synne 2916 Y wyl now ouer lepe hyt here. c 1425 Craft Nombrynge (E.E.T.S.) 25 Ouer lepe alle þese cifers & sett þat neþer 2 þat stondes toward þe ryght side. 1589 Puttenham Eng. Poesie ii. x. (Arb.) 99 Your rime falleth vpon the first and fourth verse ouerleaping two. 1641 Smectymnuus Vind. Answ. i. 5 Whatever objection made by us, he finds too heavy to remove, he over-leaps it. 1846 Trench Mirac. i. (1862) 109 All the intervening steps of these tardier processes were overleaped. |
† b. intr. To turn aside from the main discourse; to digress. Obs. rare.
| 1393 Langland P. Pl. C. xxi. 360 A lytel ich ouer-lep for lesynges sake. |
† 3. To leap or spring upon. Obs. rare. [over- 7.]
| 1377 Langl. P. Pl. B. Prol. 150 For a cat of a courte cam whan hym lyked, And ouerlepe hem lyȝtlich and lauȝte hem at his wille. Ibid. 199 Þat cat..þat canȝow ouerlepe. |
† 4. To leap farther than, surpass in leaping; fig. to surpass, excel. Obs. [over- 22.]
| a 1340 Hampole Psalter lxi. 1 Þe halyman ouerlepand in thoght of heuen all warldis lufers. 1603 Florio Montaigne i. xx. (1632) 41 Leaping, and straining himselfe to overleape another. |
b. refl. To leap beyond one's measure or mark, or beyond what one intends; to leap too far.
| 1605 Shakes. Macb. i. vii. 27 Vaulting Ambition, which ore⁓leapes it self, And falles on th' other. |
So † ˈoverleap n. Obs., a leaping over; omission.
| 1610 Bp. Hall Apol. Brownists 34 We like not these bold ouer-leapes of so many Centuries. |