▪ I. overdrive, v.
(see below)
[OE. oferdr{iacu}fan = MHG. übertrîben, Du. overdrijven, f. ofer- over- 4, 5, 17, 10, 27 + dr{iacu}fan to drive.]
† 1. trans. (overˈdrive). To drive away, dispel; to overthrow. Obs.
| a 950 Durham Ritual (Surtees) 38 God ðv ðe ðiostro gidvoles wordes ðines lehte oferdrifest [L. depellis]. c 1000 ælfric Saints' Lives (1885) I. 232 Oðþæt se eadiᵹa petrus þone arleasan ofer-draf. 1375 Barbour Bruce iv. 661 Bot feill anoyis thoill ȝhe sall,..Bot ȝhe sall thame ourdriff ilkane. 1573 Satir. Poems Reform. xxxix. 22 And, as I dout not, wil ourdryue thir dangeris. |
† 2. trans. To cause (time) to pass; to bring to an end; to pass; spend. Sc. Obs.
| 1375 Barbour Bruce xix. 481 Qwhen thai [that] day ourdrivyn had. 1528 Lyndesay Dream 32 More pleasandlie the tyme for tyll ouerdryue. a 1550 Freiris of Berwik 417 in Dunbar's Poems 299 On this wyiss the lang nicht thay ourdraif. a 1600 Montgomerie Misc. Poems xxxix. 26 Sair weeping, but sleeping, The nichts I ouerdryve. |
b. intr. Of time: To pass away, elapse. Of a person: To let the time pass; to delay. Obs.
| 1375 Barbour Bruce v. 3 Quhen vyntir tyde Vith his blastis..Wes ourdriffin. a 1400–50 Alexander 1505 Sone þe dyrke ouer-drafe & þe day springez. c 1450 St. Cuthbert (Surtees) 5253 Þus þai our draue som what lange. 1513 Douglas æneis xiii. ix. 51 The lang..nycht Gan schape full fast to mak schort and ourdryve. 1533 Bellenden Livy v. (1822) 437 The time wes lang oure drevin but ony inclinacioun of victorie to athir side. |
† 3. trans. To drive over. Obs. rare.
| c 1420 Sir Amadace (Camden) xlviii, Stithe stormes me ore-drofe. |
4. (ˌəʊvəˈdraɪv). To drive too hard; to drive or work to exhaustion; to overwork. Also fig.
| a 1450 Myrc 1813 When þat he ys so ouer-dryue[n] Þat he may no lengur lyue[n]. 1551 Bible Gen. xxxiii. 13 Ewes and kyne with yong..which yf men shoulde ouerdryue but euen one daye, the hole flocke woulde die. 1677 Gilpin Demonol. (1867) 341 Satan is gradual in his temptations..and is very careful he do not over-drive men. 1703 Collier Ess. Mor. Subj. ii. (1709) 176 They don't over-drive their Business. 1884 Expositor Jan. 26 He..ruins his analogy by overdriving it. |
5. Golf. To drive farther than (an opponent); to outdrive.
| 1900 Gentl. Mag. Feb. 126 If the opponent is a longer driver one is spared the temptation..of pressing to avoid being overdriven. |
Hence ˌoverˈdriving vbl. n.
| 1837 De Quincey Revolt of Tartars in Blackw. Mag. July 101/2 The cattle suffered greatly from over-driving. 1909 Chambers's Jrnl. Mar. 203/1 The electrical equipment is provided with suitable automatic devices to prevent over-driving. 1972 Science 16 June 1236/2 Control of the intensity is necessary to prevent overdriving by strong signals. |
▪ II. ˈoverdrive, n.
[over- 26.]
1. a. In a motor vehicle, a speed-increasing gear which may be brought into operation in addition to the ordinary (reducing) gears, so providing a gear higher than direct drive (the usual top gear), and in some cases correspondingly raising other gears, and thereby enabling engine speed to be reduced for a given road speed.
| 1929 Trans. Soc. Automotive Engineers XXIV. 335/1 The functioning of a transmission with either an over⁓drive or an underdrive through a double-internal-gear set in combination with a suitable clutch is exactly equivalent to that of a two-speed axle. 1932 Elliott & Consoliver Gasoline Automobile (ed. 4) xviii. 479 As a general thing, the high gear [on heavy trucks and buses] is a direct drive, although in some cases the high gear ratio is an overdrive, that is, the engine crankshaft turns at a slower speed than the propeller shaft. 1938 Times 23 Aug. 8/5 The overdrive is engaged by merely pushing in a lever just below the instrument board. 1958 Times 1 Oct. 8/3 To this can be added at extra cost a Laycock de Normanville overdrive operating on second and top gear. 1959 [see gear ratio s.v. gear n. IV]. 1959 C. Campbell Sports Car (ed. 2) ix. 174 Some designers prefer to use the overdrive on top gear only, giving in effect a 5-speed gear⁓box. Others prefer to make it operative on both top and third, so that overdrive third gear is an intermediate step between direct third and direct top. 1970 Motoring Which? July 83/1 The 3-litre was comfortable up to about 95 mph (helped by its overdrive on 3rd and top). 1973 J. Wainwright Devil you Don't 5 It was a great car—a Jag. Mark II—well capable of three-figure speeds at the flick of the overdrive switch. |
b. fig.
| 1962 L. Deighton Ipcress File i. 18 Dalby's voice trailed off as he slipped his mind into over-drive. 1967 Times 28 Oct. 20/2 Always the narrative is in smooth overdrive, even when it whisks you in successive paragraphs through Haiti..or the Preseli. 1969 Times 13 Dec. p. iv/7 The Websters knew everyone... Here, too, are Lilian Baylis and Sybil Thorndike, in overdrive as ever. 1970 G. Greer Female Eunuch 44 If women find that the clitoris has become the only site of their pleasure instead of acting as a kind of sexual overdrive in a more general response, they will find themselves dominated by the performance ethic. 1977 Rolling Stone 30 June 101/1 He shifts into overdrive on the first track, a fiery and propulsive Clarke composition entitled ‘The Heat of the Battle’, and never looks back for the whole album. |
2. Science Fiction. = hyperdrive.
| 1953 [see interstellar a.]. |