overmuch, a. and adv.
(ˈəʊvəˈmʌtʃ, with shifting stress)
[over- 28, 30. Cf. OE. ofermicel overmickle.]
Too much.
A. adj. Too great in amount; excessive, superabundant.
| 1297 R. Glouc. (Rolls) 10788 Þou sucst [= seest] þis folc ouer muche þat aȝe þe is, And þin owe ouer lute [= little]. c 1450 Voc. in Wr.-Wülcker 597/40 Nimius, overmyche. 1568 Grafton Chron. II. 193 He gave himselfe also to over⁓muche drinking. 1641 Prynne Antip. 17 The Kings over-much earnestnesse. 1745 De Foe's Eng. Tradesman vi. (1841) I. 41 This was the effect of giving overmuch credit. 1814 Cary Dante, Paradise xxii. 24 Fearful of o'er-much presuming. a 1875 Helps Ess., Org. Daily Life 134 Listened to with overmuch credulity. |
b. absol. (rarely as n.) Too great an amount; too much; excess; superfluity.
| 1303 R. Brunne Handl. Synne 6518 Ouermoche ys abominable & stynk. 1541 R. Copland Galyen's Terapeutyke 2 B ij, In an other place we shall speke of the ouer moche or lacke of y⊇ partyes. a 1568 R. Ascham Scholem. (Arb.) 115 That is, by way of Epitome, to cut all ouer much away. 1784 R. Bage Barham Downs I. 166 In short, this over⁓much of it is the weakness of the mind. 1847 Emerson Poems (1857) 52 The world hath overmuch of pain. |
B. adv. To too great an extent or degree; excessively.
| c 1380 Wyclif Sel. Wks. III. 364 Þes newe ordris and þer fautours failen ouer myche in charite. 1490 Caxton Eneydos xxv. 92 Hym thought ouer moche diffycile and to longe a thinge to make the walles. 1560 J. Daus tr. Sleidane's Comm. 381 b, If they see themselues ouermuche aggravated. 1653 Gataker Vind. Annot. Jer. 3 For one to be over-much seen in geomancie, palmistrie,..or aruspicie. 1788 Trifler No. 14. 189 We are commended not to be religious overmuch. 1850 Tennyson In Mem. lxxxv, I woo your love: I count it crime To mourn for any overmuch. |
Hence overˈmuchness [cf. OE. ofermicelnes], the condition of being overmuch; excess, superabundance.
| 1636 B. Jonson Discov. Wks. (Rtldg.) 758/2 Superlation and over-muchness amplifies. 1660 tr. Paracelsus' Archidoxis ii. 80 Sulphur..rules over that which is the overmuchness or superfluity of the other two. 1867 De Morgan in Athenæum 19 Jan. 90 The omitted words, which Mr. Reddie..no doubt took for pleonasm, superfluity, overmuchness. |