OVER 
m 
Now in danger try'd, now known in arms 
Not to be over-power'd. Milton's P. L. 
To OVER-PRESS', v. a. To bear upon with irrefiftible 
force ; to overwhelm ; to cruflr.—.When a prince enters 
on a war, he ought maturely to confider whether his cof¬ 
fers be full, his people rich by a long peace and free trade, 
not over-preffed with many burtherifome taxes. Swift. 
Michael’s arm main promontories filing. 
And over prefs'd whole legions weak with fin. Rofcommon. 
To overcome by entreaty ; to prefs or perfuade too much. 
To OVER-PRI'ZE, v. a. To value at too high price.— 
Parents over-prize their children, while they behold them 
through the -vapours of afteftion. Wotton. 
QVER-PROM'PTNESS, /! Haltinefs ; precipitation.—■ 
There is an over-promptnefs in many young men, who 
defire to be counted men of valour and refolution, upon 
every (light occalion to raife a quarrel, and admit of no 
other means of compofing and ending it but by fword and 
fingle combat. Hale's Serm. on Duels. 
OVER-QUI'ETNESS, f. A ftate of too much quiet.— 
To ftrenuous minds there is an inquietude in over-quietnefs, 
and no laborioufnefs in labour. Brown's Chr. Mor. 
To OVER-R A'KE, v. a. A fea term ; to break in, as 
waves on a (hip from head to (tern. Bailey. 
OVER-RANK', adj. Too rank.—It produces over-rank 
binds. Mortimer's Hnjbandry. 
To OVER-RANK', v.a. To place in too high a rank. 
To OVER-RA'TE, v. a. To rate at too much.—To 
avoid the temptations of poverty, it concerns us not to 
over-rate the conveniences of our llation, and, in efti- 
mating the proportion fit for us, to fix it rather low 
than high ; for our defines will be proportioned to our 
wants, real or imaginary, and our temptations to our de¬ 
fines. Rogers. 
While vain (hows and fcenes you over-rate, 
’Tis to be fear’d, 
That, as a fire the former houfe o’er-threw, 
Machines and tempefts will deftroy the new. Dry den. 
To OVER-RE'ACH, v. a. To rife above.—Sixteen hun¬ 
dred years after the earth was made, it was overflowed 
in a deluge of water in fuch excefs, that the floods over¬ 
reached the tops of the higheft mountains. Burnet. —To de¬ 
ceive ; togo beyond ; to circumvent. A fagacious man is 
fa id to havealong renc/i.—'What more cruel than man, if he 
fee himfelf able by fraud to over-reach, or by powerto over¬ 
bear, the laws whereunto hefhould be fubjeft. Hooker .— 
I have laid my brain in the fun and dried it, that it wants 
matter to prevent fo grofs over-reaching. Sliakefpeare. — 
There is no pleafanter encounter than a trial of (kill be¬ 
twixt (harpers to over-reach one another. L'EJirange. 
A-than who had been matchlefs held 
In cunning, over-reach'd where lead: bethought, 
To falve his credit, and for very fpite 
Still will be tempting him who foils him ftill. Milton. 
To OVER-RE'ACH, v. n. A horfe is faid to over-reach 
when he brings his hinder feet too far forwards, and (trikes 
his toes againft: his fore-fhoes. Farrier's Diet. 
OVER-RE'ACHER, J'. A cheat; a deceiver. 
To OVER-RE'AD, v.a. To perufe.—The contents of 
this is the return of the duke; you (hall anon over-read 
it at your pleafure. ShakeJ'peare. 
'To OVER-RECK'ON, v.a. To reckon too much. 
To OVER-RED', v.a. To fmear with red. 
Prick thy face, and over-red thy fear, 
Thou lily-iiver’d boy. Sliakefpeare'$ Macbeth. 
To OVER-RI'DE, v.a. To ride over. 
The carter, over-riden by his cart, 
Under the whele lay ful low adowne. Chaucer. 
To ride too much : as, The horfe was over-ridden. 
OVER-RI'DING, f. The aft of riding a horfe beyond 
its ftrength. 
OVER-RIG’ID, adj. Too rigid. 
OVER-RI'PE, adj. Too ripe. 
To OVER-RI'PEN, v. a. To make too ripe •. 
Why droops my lord, like over-ripen'd corn. 
Hanging the head with Ceres’ plenteous load. Shakefp. 
To OVER-RO'AST, v. a. To road too much : 
’Twas burnt and dried away ; 
And better ’twere that both of us did faft, 
Since of ourfelves, ourfelves are choleric, 
Than feed it with fuch over-roajled flelh. Sliakefpeare. 
To OVER-RU'LE, v.a. To influence with predomi¬ 
nant power ; to be fuperior in authority.—He is afted by 
a pallion which abfolutely over-rules him ; and fo can no 
more recover himfelf, than a bowl rolling down an hill 
flop itfelf in the midft of its career. South. — A wife man 
(hall over-rule his liars, and have a greater influence upon 
his own content than all the conrtellations and planets 
of the firmament. Taylor. — A man may, by the in¬ 
fluence of an over-ruling planet, be inclined to luft, and 
yet by the force of reafon overcome that bad influence. 
Swift. —To govern with high authority ; to fuperintend. 
—Wherefore does he not now come forth and openly 
over-rule, as in other matters he is accuftomed ? Hayward. 
—To fuperfede s as, in law, to over-rule a plea, is to re- 
jeft it as incompetent.—Thirty acres make a farthing- 
land, nine farthings a Cornifh acre, and four Cornifli 
acres a knight’s fee : but this rule is over-ruled to a greater 
or lefier quantity, according to the fruitfulnefs or barren- 
nefs of the foil. Carew. 
OVER-RU'LER, f. Direftor; governour.—Then did 
proof, the over-ruler of opinions, make manifeft that all 
thefe are but ferving faiences. Sidney's Def. of Poefy. 
To OVER-RUN', v. a. To harafs by incurlions ; to ra¬ 
vage; to rove over in a hoftile manner.—A commonwealth 
may be over-run by a powerful neighbour, winch may 
produce bad cor.fequences upon your trade and liberty. 
Swift's Mifcell. 
They err who countit glorious to fubdue 
By conqueft far and wide, to over-run 
Large countries, and in field great battles win, >- 
Great cities by a (Fault. Milton's Paradife Regained. 
Till the tears (he (hed, 
Like envious clouds o'er-ran her lovely face. 
She was the faireft creature in the world. Sliakefpeare. 
To out-run ; to pafs.—Pyrocles, being come to fixteen, 
over-run his age in growth, ftrength, and all things fol¬ 
lowing it, that not Mufidorus could perform any aftion 
on horfe or foot more ftrongly, or deliver that ftrength 
more nimbly, or become the delivery more gracefully, or 
employ all more virtuoufly. Sidney .— Ahimaaz ran by the 
way of the plain, and over-rein Cuftii. 2 Sam. xviii. 23,— 
Galilseus noteth, that if an open trough, wherein Water 
is, be driven falter than the water can follow, the water 
gathereth upon a heap towards the hinderend, where the 
motion began ; which he fuppofeth, holding the motion 
of the earth to be the caufe of the ebbing and flowing of 
the ocean, becaufe the earth over-runneth the water. 
Bacon, 
We may out-run 
By violent fwiftnefs that which we run at. 
And lofe by over-running. Shahejpeare's Hen. VIII. 
To over-fpread ; to cover all over.—This difpofition of 
the parts of the earth, (hows us the footfteps of fome kind 
of ruin which happened in fuch a way, that at the fame 
time a general flood of waters would neceflarily over-run 
the whole earth. Burnet. 
His tears defac’d the furface of the well ; 
And now the lovely face but half appears, 
O'er-run with wrinkles, and deform’d with tears. Addifon. 
To mifehief by great numbers ; to pefter.—’To flatter 
foolifti men into a hope of life where there is none, is 
much 
