OVERRUN • FREE-TRANSLATOR.COM • Definition of Overrun

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/ˈoʊvərrˌən/ Listen

verb

Overrun v. t. (past overran; past part. overrun; pres. part. overrunning)

1.

To run over; to grow or spread over in excess; to invade and occupy; to take possession of; as, the vine overran its trellis; the farm is overrun with witch grass. "Those barbarous nations that overran the world."

2.

To exceed in distance or speed of running; to go beyond or pass in running. "Ahimaaz ran by the way of the plain, and overran Cushi."

3.

To go beyond; to extend in part beyond; as, one line overruns another in length. Note: In machinery, a sliding piece is said to overrun its bearing when its forward end goes beyond it.

4.

To abuse or oppress, as if by treading upon. "None of them the feeble overran."

5.

(Print.)

(a)

To carry over, or back, as type, from one line or page into the next after, or next before.

(b)

To extend the contents of (a line, column, or page) into the next line, column, or page.

Overrun v. i. (past overran; past part. overrun; pres. part. overrunning)

1.

To run, pass, spread, or flow over or by something; to be beyond, or in excess. "Despised and trodden down of all that overran."

2.

(Print.) To extend beyond its due or desired length; as, a line, or advertisement, overruns.

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Etymology of 'Overrun'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Overrun" Quotes from Famous Books

... hopelessly defeated at the battle of Magnesia (190 B.C.). After this, the Syrian kingdom was of very little importance in the world's affairs. At last, brought again into collision with Rome, the country was overrun by Pompey the Great, and became a part of ...

— A General History for Colleges and High Schools • P. V. N. Myers

... scarcely rejoined Cyrus Harding and Herbert, before the islet was overrun with pirates in every direction. Almost at the same moment, fresh reports resounded from the Mercy station, to which the second boat was rapidly approaching. Two, out of the eight men who manned her, were mortally ...

— The Secret of the Island • W.H.G. Kingston (translation from Jules Verne)

... arise also from this, that the city is gradually overrun with people, both useful and needless. In vain are the courts reminded, on the part of the city, of prescriptions of the Golden Bull, now, indeed, obsolete. Not only the deputies with their attendants, ...

— Autobiography • Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

... the king comes from hunting he will see you, and will ask you where you come from, and what news is stirring in the world. And you must say to him that you have lately journeyed from Syria, from the kingdom of his brother, and that the land has been overrun by strange armies, and that the country is in a great strait. When he hears that he will of a surety hasten to his aid, and then you will be able to escape with Josyan without danger of ...

— The Red Romance Book • Various

... their lands. "That is true," answered Sir John, "but it may be easily seen who draws the greatest profit from my lands, the farmer or I. He indeed feeds his horses with hay which he gets off my meadows, but his horses in return plough the fields, which otherwise would be overrun with weeds. He also feeds his cows and his sheep with the hay; but their dung is useful in giving fertility to the ground. His wife and children are fed with the harvest corn; but they in return devote the summer to weeding the crops; and afterwards, some in reaping them, ...

— The Looking-Glass for the Mind - or Intellectual Mirror • M. Berquin

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