ˈoverˈstrung, pa. pple. and ppl. a.
(stress shifting)
[over- 28 c; and pa. pple. of overstring v.]
1. Too highly strung; intensely strained.
| 1810 Scott Lady of L. iii. vi, With fired brain and nerves o'erstrung. 1892 Zangwill Bow Mystery 114 The overstrung nerves of the onlookers. |
2. Of a piano: Having the strings arranged in two (or three) sets crossing obliquely over one another.
| 1880 Hipkins in Grove Dict. Mus. II. 720/2 [In] 1835..Theobald Boehm..contrived an overstrung square, and an overstrung cottage piano. 1894 Westm. Gaz. 15 Mar. 3/3 In '59 the overstrung scale in which the strings are disposed in fan-like form was invented. |