Overdrive

Quick meaning: Overdrive is a verb meaning (transitive) To drive too hard, or far, or beyond strength.

Meaning

(transitive) To drive too hard, or far, or beyond strength.

More Meanings

1. (uncountable, figurative) A state of heightened activity.
2. (engineering, mechanical) A gear ratio higher than 1:1: one in which a single revolution of the driving element corresponds to more than one revolution of the driven element.
3. (euphemistic, slang) Freewheeling (driving a vehicle with the transmission in neutral) on downhill stretches to achieve higher fuel economy and/or speed than otherwise. In colloquial registers, ethnically bigoted variants have been common, such as Jewish overdrive (alluding to the stereotype of miserly Jews) or Mexican overdrive or Polish overdrive (alluding to stereotypes of foolishness and poverty).
4. (dated, automotive) A gear, on an automobile, higher than the traditional top gear, mainly to allow better fuel economy at highway speeds. In the 21st century, such gears are no longer viewed as "extra" and thus rarely called by this name.

Example Sentences

overdrive pacing

Near-synonym: top gear

The campaign has been in overdrive since the recent announcement.

In the 1970s, many transmission designs were revised to add an overdrive gear.

Word Forms

• overdrives
• overdriving
• overdrove
• overdriven

Synonyms for overdrive

Depending on context, synonyms include OD, full throttle, overuse.

Related Words

Related dictionary entries include overuse, pacing, fore, device, overdo, overpull.

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