Meaning

A turbulent section of a body of water, caused by strong currents passing over submerged ridges..

Definitions by Sense

1. A turbulent section of a body of water, caused by strong currents passing over submerged ridges.
2. Part of a garment that hangs so as to cover a lower part.
3. (transitive) To fall on or spill over so as to cover (something).
4. (transitive) To change or affect so as to pervade (something); to come over
5. (intransitive) To fall over; to spill from an edge or height.
6. (intransitive) To fall over; to topple.

Example Sentences

But her laugh stuck in her throat, for at that moment a shadow overfell the two houses

1 of these ladies was strikingly handsome, with long black hair which overfell her face as she worked.

The troll overfell him. A moment he lay under that mass and could not breathe.

But you, divine one, you, resounding to the end, when the swarm of rejected Maenads overfell him, you sounded over their screams with order; o beautiful one, out of the destroyers arose your uplifting play.

When the tidal surge hits Britain, one arm goes up the west coast and the other goes through the English Channel. The slight time delay in their meeting cause one to overfall the other at certain points in Orkney.

From thence King Hakon proceeded up the Dovrefield; but as he was going over the mountains he road all day after a ptarmigan, which flew up beside him , and in this chase a sickness overfell him, which ended in his death ; and he died on the mountains.

Such a blankness overfell his face!

All three passages refer to the disaster that overfell Sennacherib's host and to nothing else.

Word Forms

• overfalls
• overfalling
• overfell
• overfallen

Related Words

When Should You Use Overfall?

Use overfall when its meaning, tone and grammar fit the full sentence. A synonym is not always a direct replacement.

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