Meaning

(archaic) To cross, go over (a barrier etc.); to surmount..

Definitions by Sense

1. (archaic) To cross, go over (a barrier etc.); to surmount.
2. (obsolete) To pass (a figurative barrier); to transgress.
3. (intransitive, UK, dialectal) To pass by, pass away; often, to go unnoticed.
4. To spread across (something); to overrun.
5. To go over, move over the top of, travel across the surface of; to traverse, travel through.
6. To go beyond; to exceed, surpass.
7. To get the better of; to overcome, overpower.
8. (obsolete) To overtake, go faster than.

Example Sentences

How many an one in its vanities hath gloried and taken pride, / Till froward and arrogant thus he grew and did all bounds o'ergo!

He did not rave, he did not stare aghast, / For all those visions were o'ergone, and past […]

forward rode, and kept her readie way / Along the strond, which as she ouer-went, / She saw bestrowed all with rich aray / Of pearles and pretious stones of great assay […]

The fixed stars overgo Saturn, and so in them and all the rest, all is but one motion, and the nearer the earth the slower – a motion also whereof air and water do participate, though much interrupted.

O, what cause have I, / Thine being but a moiety of my grief, / To overgo thy plaints and drown thy cries!

He seeks to persuade the queen not merely to emulate the Amazons' vigilant territoriality but to overgo them by emulating the Spaniards' rampant invasiveness.

Both barking Scilla, and the ſounding Rocks, / The Cyclops ſhelues, and grim Ceranias ſeat, / Have you ore gone, and yet remaine aliue?

If it chance, that we be overgone / By his more swiftness, urge him still to run upon our fleet, / And (lest he 'scape us to the town) still let thy javelin meet / With all his offers of retreat.

Word Forms

• overgoes
• overgoing
• overwent
• overgone

Synonyms for overgo

Related Words

When Should You Use Overgo?

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

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