▪ I. overpass, v. Now somewhat rare.
(əʊvəˈpɑːs, -pæs)
Pa. tense and pple. overpassed, -past.
[f. over- 9, 10, etc. + pass v.]
I. Transitive senses, in which over- stands in prepositional relation to the object.
* Literal or physical senses.
1. To pass over, travel over, move across or along.
| 1297 R. Glouc. (Rolls) 228 And suþþe he ssulde mani lond over passi and wende. 1495 Trevisa's Barth. De P.R. xiii. v. (W. de W.) C v b/1 The ryuer Nilus makyth the londe that he ouerpassyth be full plenteuous of corne and fruyte. 1571 Golding Calvin on Ps. lxi. 2 He overpassed y⊇ distance that was betwixt him and it. 1891 R. Kipling Light that Failed ii, The stream was falling and..the next few miles would be no light thing for the whale-boats to overpass. |
2. To pass across, to the other side of, or beyond; to cross.
| a 1340 Hampole Psalter xvii. 32 In my god i sall ouerpasse þe wall. 1422 tr. Secreta Secret., Priv. Priv. xii. 141 The ryuers and wateres [the rain] makyth ouer-Passe har boundys. 1599 Thynne Animadv. Ded. (1865) 2 He whiche hathe once ouer passed the frontiers of modestye. 1681 Dryden Spanish Friar iii. 37, I stood on a wide River's bank, Which I must needs o'erpass. 1846 Trench Mirac. xxiii. (1862) 342 At no time..does our Lord seem to have overpassed the limits of the Holy Land. |
3. To rise above; to extend or project beyond.
| a 1425 Cursor M. 1838 (Trin.) Þe heȝest hille..Þe flood ouer passed seuen ellen & more. 1737 Bracken Farriery Impr. (1756) I. 323 If the upper overpass the under Teeth. 1938 Times 16 Aug. 15/4 The stream..swelled uproariously. It did not anywhere overpass its deeply engraved channel, but raced helter-skelter and bank high to the road and the beach. |
4. To pass by; to come up to or alongside of and go beyond. [over- 13.]
| 1530 Palsgr. 649/1, I overpasse, as a man dothe..a companye that he overtaketh. 1553 Eden Treat. Newe Ind. (Arb.) 38 Saylinge farre beyond this Region, and ouer⁓passinge manye countreyes..we came to another nacion. |
** Figurative senses corresponding to prec.
5. a. To pass through, get through, get to the end of (a period, or an action, experience, etc.); often including the notion ‘to get through or out of successfully or safely, get over, surmount’; more rarely, to pass, spend (time). [over- 16, 17.]
| a 1300 Cursor M. 24280 Þis ilk pine es for me dight,..Ouer⁓pas it sal i son. c 1375 Ibid. 26633 (Fairf.) Ouer-passe þou noȝt þe lentin-tide. c 1470 Henry Wallace v. 369 Wallace him herd, quhen he his slepe ourpast. 1577 J. Northbrooke Dicing (1843) 44 Halfe of the year, and more, was ouer⁓passed..in loytering and vaine pastimes. 1645 Marquis of Worcester in Dircks Life viii. (1865) 125 Having overpassed many rubs and difficulties. 1831 Coleridge in Lit. Rem. (1838) III. 101 Having now overpassed six-sevenths of the ordinary period allotted to human life. 1876 T. Hardy Ethelberta (1890) 161 It became imperative to consider how best to overpass a more general catastrophe. |
† b. To pass through in one's mind. Obs.
| 1658 J. Webb Cleopatra viii. i. 10 The faire Princesse sensible at this remembrance could not overpasse it in her spirit without sighs and sobbs. |
† 6. To come over or affect, as an influence, emotion, etc.; in quot. 1679, to overspread. Obs.
| a 1300 Cursor M. 8987 (Cott.) Ouer passed [Trin. Ouer⁓passed him] has þat caitiue kind, And mad king salamon al blind. 1500–20 Dunbar Poems lxxiv. 18 Sic deidlie dwawmes..Ane hundrithe tymes hes my hairt ouirpast. 1679 King in G. Hickes Spirit of Popery 47 The horrid Prophanity that has overpassed the whole Land. |
7. a. To go (or be) beyond in amount, rate, value, excellence, etc.; to extend or lie beyond the range or scope of; to exceed, excel, transcend, surpass.
| a 1300 Cursor M. 12707 Sent Ion, þe wangelist..All þe appostells he ouer-past. c 1374 Chaucer Boeth. v. pr. vi. 135 (Camb. MS.) The science of him þat ouer passeth al temperel moeuement. 1530 Palsgr. 649/1, I overpasse, I excede in value or in any other thyng. 1622 Malynes Anc. Law-Merch. 111 A Factor is bound to answere the losse which happeneth by ouerpassing or exceeding his Commission. 1835 I. Taylor Spir. Despot. iii. 103 A generous enthusiasm..will probably overpass the necessities of the occasion. 1871 Dixon Tower IV. vii. 63 He overpassed his sire in comic power. |
b. To go beyond the limits or restrictions of, to transgress. [over- 12]
| c 1399 Pol. Poems (Rolls) II. 7 The werre maketh the grete citee lasse, And dothe the lawe his reules overpasse. 1450–80 tr. Secreta Secret. 11 He ouyr passith the wey of trouthe, he settith at nought..goddis lawe. 1597 Beard Theatre God's Judgem. (1612) 527 This neither ought nor can be done..without ouerpassing the bounds of his limited power. 1905 Daily Chron. 24 Oct. 1 The Russian and Austrian agents in Uskub overpass their duties. a 1973 J. R. R. Tolkien Silmarillion (1977) 262 But the design of Manwë was that the N{uacu}menóreans should not..desire to overpass the limits set to their bliss. |
8. a. To pass over, leave unnoticed or unmentioned, leave out, omit. Now rare. [over- 5 b.]
| 1382 Wyclif Gen. xviii. 4 Lord, if I have foundun grace in thin eyen, overpasse thow not thi servaunt. 1494 Fabyan Chron. v. lxxviii. 57 But for the names..be derke to Englysshe vnderstandynge, therfore I ouerpasse theym, and folowe the Storye. 1559 Morwyng Evonym. 284 Manye other thinges which for brevities sake I overpas. 1601 Holland Pliny II. 627 The bloud-stone Hæmatites..a stone that I must not ouerpasse in silence. 1779–81 Johnson L.P., Dryden Wks. II. 336 The reason which he gives for printing what was never acted, cannot be overpassed. 1831 Sir W. Hamilton Discuss. (1852) 233 Some lesser errors..we overpass. 1872 G. M. Hopkins Let. 5 Mar. (1956) 118, I cannot tell how I have overpassed your birthday and only been recalled to it now too late by seeing the date March 3 on a letter. |
† b. Of a thing: To pass by, leave unaffected, ‘escape’ (a person). Obs.
| 1535 Coverdale Ecclus. xiv. 14 Let not y⊇ porcion of y⊇ good daie ouerpas the. |
II. Intrans. senses, in which over- is adverbial.
9. To pass over, pass across or overhead.
| a 1340 Hampole Psalter x. 1 How say ȝe til my saule, Ouerpasse in til þe hill as a sparow? c 1400 Rom. Rose 5343 Till whan the shadow is ouerpast. 1797 Southey Triumph of Woman 288 And birds o'erpassing hear, and drop, and die. 1874 F. E. Abbot Little Margaret, When the shadows overpass. |
10. a. Of time, actions, experiences, etc.: To pass away, come to an end; to pass, pass by, elapse. Most often in pa. pple. = At an end, past, ‘over’.
| c 1325 Song Deo Gratias 54 in E.E.P. (1862) 125 And sumtyme plesaunce wol ouerpas. 1494 Fabyan Chron. vi. clxxxi. 179 The monkes..layde it in the churche of seynt Anyan tyll the persecucion were ouerpassed. 1514 Barclay Cyt. & Uplondyshm. (Percy Soc.) p. lxxii, No day overpasseth exempt of busynes. c 1592 Marlowe Massacre Paris ii. vi, Come, my lords; now that this storm is overpast. 1603 Knolles Hist. Turks (1621) 54 Afterwards the furie of the people overpassed. 1874 H. R. Reynolds John Bapt. ii. 91 The strange eclipse of His beams is overpassed. 1895 Edin. Rev. July 162 The crisis was virtually overpast. |
† b. To ‘pass’, take place, happen. Obs. rare.
| 1530 Palsgr. 382 The partyculer actes & cyrcumstances whiche overpassed in the meane whyle. |
† 11. To exceed, go to excess; to be in excess, be over. Obs.
| c 1400 tr. Secreta Secret., Gov. Lordsh. 67 Who so ouerpassys yn ful or voyd, yn slepynge or wakynge,..he mowe noght eschewe maladyes. 1530 Palsgr. 649/1, I overpasse, I remayne besydes the juste nombre and quantyte..je surabonde. This somme is nat just yet for this overpasseth. |
† 12. To pass or remain unnoticed, to be let alone or omitted; chiefly in phr. to let it overpass = to let it pass, take no notice of it (= sense 8).
| c 1350 Will. Palerne 4113, I leued hire þan lelly and lett it ouer-pase. c 1400 Destr. Troy 5084 Laghe at it lightly and let it ouer pas. 1525 Ld. Berners Froiss. II. lxxxv. [lxxxi.] 254 Thynke you y{supt} y⊇ frensshe kynge wyl suffre y{supt} matter thus to ouerpas? a 1575 Wife lapped Morrelles Skin 695 in Hazl. E.P.P. IV. 208 O, good wife, cease and let this ouerpasse. |
Hence overˈpassed, -past ppl. a., that has come to an end, past; overˈpassing vbl. n., a passing over or across, excess, etc.; overˈpassing ppl. a., surpassing; poet. as adv. exceedingly, ‘passing’.
| c 1340 Hampole Prose Tr. (1866) 38 To behalde þe vertus and þe ouer-passande grace of þe saule of Ihesu. 1382 Wyclif Obad. i. 19 And transmygracioun, or ouer passynge. 1552 Huloet, Ouerpassynge, transcursus. 1582 T. Watson Cent. Loue xcviii. Argt., The present title of his ouerpassed Loue. 1865 Mill Auguste Comte 14 He deemed all real knowledge of a commencement inaccessible to us, and the inquiry into it an overpassing of the essential limits of our mental faculties. 1898 S. Evans Holy Graal 107 So overpassing rich was it. |
▪ II. ˈoverpass, n. orig. U.S.
Also over-pass.
[over- 1 d.]
A raised stretch of road or railway line that passes over another road or railway line; = fly-over 1. Also attrib.
| 1929 Amer. City Oct. 104/2 In certain cases where the construction of under- or over-passes cannot be avoided..my system simplifies them to an astonishing extent. 1933 [see clover-leaf s.v. clover n. 4]. 1938 Sun (Baltimore) 31 Aug. 7/3 Overpasses were built in both communities after years of agitation and numbers of serious crossing accidents. 1952 [see expressway]. 1959 Daily Tel. 9 Nov. 1/1 But they refused to allow a car, scooter or even a bicycle to be pushed on these overpass roads. 1964 L. Deighton Funeral in Berlin li. 313 Dominating the whole scene is the gleaming stone pillar of the Cenotaph like the freshly-built leg of a new overpass. 1969 New Scientist 17 Apr. 105/1 A major earthquake would..cause the over⁓passes into the city to collapse. 1973 H. Nielsen Severed Key i. 11 The traffic lanes leading away from the airport were packed. Once over the overpass, Keith made a sharp right turn. 1974 Anderson (S. Carolina) Independent 23 Apr. 3A/5 A 180-foot overpass over Clinchfield railroad tracks on secondary road 126 in Spartanburg went to Dickerson, Inc., of Monroe N.C., which entered a low bid of $335,360. 1976 National Observer (U.S.) 5 June 1/1 As you top an overpass, your eyes are drawn to a red, white, and blue water tower on the horizon. |