▪ I. overˈsail, v.1
[f. over- 5, 10, 6 + sail v.1]
1. trans. To sail over or across; to cross in a sailing vessel. (In OE. intr.)
| c 1000 Ags. Gosp. Matt. xiv. 34 And þa hiᵹ ofer-seᵹelodon [c 1160 Hatt. Gosp. ofer-seiȝledon] hi comon on þæt land Genesareth. 1375 Barbour Bruce iii. 686 Till our-saile thaim [stremys] in-to schipfair. 1491 Caxton Vitas Patr. (W. de W. 1495) ii. 251 b/1 We shall oversaylle the peryllous and myserable see of this worlde. 1864 Skeat Uhland's Poems 164 Together [they] had o'ersailed the tossing sea. |
† 2. To run down or sink (a vessel) by sailing over it. Obs.
| 1449 Paston Lett. I. 85 But [= unless] he wyll streke don the sayle, that I wyld over sayle ham by the grace of God. 1480 Caxton Chron. Eng. ccxxxii. 250 A stronge vessel of hir [the Danes] nauye that was ouersailed by the englysshmen and was perisshed and dreynt. 1601 Sir W. Cornwallis Ess. ii. (1631) 53 Like a barke oversayled he turnes himselfe under water, and sinkes. |
3. To sail beyond.
| 1851 H. Melville Moby Dick III. xlix. 295 I've over-sailed him [sc. Moby Dick]... Aye, he's chasing me now; not I him. |
▪ II. † overˈsail, v.2 Obs. rare.
[f. over- 7 + sail v.2, aphetic f. assail. Cf. OF. sursaillir to leap upon.]
trans. To overthrow.
| c 1425 Eng. Conq. Irel. 16 On euery side smytynge vp the host, as they wolden in wode raas ferly ouersaill hame [L. tanquam in impetu furoris sui cuncta devorantium]. |
▪ III. overˈsail, v.3 dial.
[app. f. over- 1, 3 + F. saillir to project, be salient: cf. OF. sursaillir to project over. The form oversailyie in sense 1 answers phonetically to the Fr., but the sense seems to connect it rather with ceil v.]
1. trans. To roof or ceil over (an open passage between houses).
| 1673 Fountainhall in M. P. Brown Suppl. Decis. (1826) III. 16 Robert Lermont..obtained..an act giving him liberty to oversailyie the close, having both sides thereof, and cast a transe over it for communicating with both his houses. |
2. a. intr. To project beyond the base, as when a stone or brick is laid so as to project beyond or overhang that on which it rests.
| 1828 Craven Gloss. (ed. 2), Ower-sail, to overhang, to project beyond the base. 1960 N. Scarfe Suffolk 97/2 Columbine Hall..is an ancient moated manor house of beauty, standing straight out of the moat, its upper storey oversailing. 1978 A. & G. Ritchie Anc. Monuments Orkney 31 The lower parts of the walls are vertical, but the upper courses oversail slightly as they rise. |
b. trans. To lay (stones, bricks, etc.) so that each projects over that on which it rests.
| 1897 Archæol. æliana XIX. ii. 177 A pointed doorway..formed by oversailing the horizontal ashlar courses. |
c. To project beyond or overhang (a base).
| 1912 C. E. Power Eng. Mediaeval Archit. ii. 483 In the Decorated period the triple roll base..begins to rise in height, often oversailing the plinth with flat under-side. 1931 Antiquity V. 48 The successive courses of the inner wall begin to oversail one another. 1938 Proc. Prehistoric Soc. IV. 199 The lowest layer was laid horizontally and each succeeding course was laid at an angle, each stone oversailing the other. |
So overˈsailing ppl. a.
| 1833 J. C. Loudon Encycl. Cottage, Farm & Villa Archit. 227 These walls..should have what is called a Welsh cornice (two or three oversailing (protruding) courses of brickwork). 1880 R. D. Blackmore Mary Anerley I. xvii. 278 Strong sunshine glared upon the over-saling [sic] tiles, and white buckled walls, and cracky lintels. 1954 N. Pevsner Essex 291 It has very heavy timbers and brackets to carry an oversailing upper storey. 1972 J. Fleming et al. Penguin Dict. Archit. (ed. 2) 209/2 Oversailing courses, a series of stone or brick courses, each one projecting beyond the one below it. 1976 National Trust Newsletter Autumn 12/1 A striking black and white timbered building with high oversailing gables. |
▪ IV. ˈoversail, n. techn.
[f. oversail v.3]
The projection of anything over its base; overhang.
| 1688 R. Holme Armoury iii. 101/1 Over seile, is when one part of a Cornish stands further out than another. Some term it a Project, or Projecting. 1778 Encycl. Brit. (ed. 2) I. 618/1, a represents the oversail of the step. 1828 Craven Gloss. (ed. 2), Ower-sail, projection. ‘Let them slaates hev plenty of ower-sail’. |