overset
/ˌoʊvəɹˈsɛt/
Word Rarity
Very rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 1.38 in modern English
10
Scrabble Score
7
Letters
2
Syllables
6
Unique Chars
Meaning
verb
To physically or mentally disturb (someone); to upset; specifically, to make (someone) ill, especially nauseous; to nauseate, to sicken.
Transitive verb
verb
To throw (something, such as an organization, a plan, etc.) into confusion or out of order; to subvert, to unsettle, to upset.
Transitive verb
Example Sentences
- "For ſtill thy eyes, vvhich I may call the ſea, / Do ebbe and flovve vvith teares, the Barke thy body is: / Sayling in this ſalt floud, the vvindes thy ſighes, / Who raging vvith thy teares and they vvith them, / VVithout a ſudden calme vvill ouerſet / Thy tempeſt toſſed body."
- "A great ſhip overſet, or vvithout faile / Hulling, might (vvhen this vvas a vvhelp) be like this vvhale."
- "Up, and with W. Hewer by hackney coach to White Hall, where the King and Duke of York is gone by three in the morning, and had the misfortune to be overset with the Duke of York, the Duke of Monmouth, and the Prince, at the King's Gate in Holborne; and the King all dirty, but no hurt."
- "VVe therefore truſted our ſelves to the Mercy of the VVaves, and in about half an hour the Boat vvas over-ſet by a ſudden Flurry from the North."
- "[T]he poſtilion, in turning too ſuddenly from the turnpike to the croſs-road, overſet the carriage."
- "A reef between them also now began / To show its boiling surf and bounding spray, / But finding no place for their landing better, / They ran the boat for shore, and overset her."
Etymology
PIE word *upér The verb is derived from Middle English oversetten (“to place or set over, cover; to assail; to defeat, overcome, overpower, overthrow; to defer; to discredit, refute; to disregard, overlook, set aside; to hinder; to oppress; to repulse”), from Old English ofersettan (“to put in a position of authority; to overcome or be overcome; to set over”), from Proto-West Germanic *ubarsattjan (“to place above, set over; to establish, install”), from *ubarsittjan (“to abstain from, neglect; to occupy, possess; to sit over or upon”), from *ubar- (prefix meaning ‘above, over’) + *sittjan (“to sit”) (from Proto-Germanic *sitjaną (“to sit”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *sed- (“to sit”)). By surface analysis, over- (prefix meaning ‘above, higher; excessive, excessively’) + set (verb). Doublet of oversit. Verb sense 1.2.3 (“to translate (a text)”) is probably a calque of German übersetzen. The adjective is derived from overset, the past participle form of the verb. The noun is also derived from the verb. cognates * Dutch overzetten (“to ferry, transport, translate”) * Old High German ubarsezzen (Middle High German übersetzen, modern German übersetzen (“to cross over, translate”)) * Saterland Frisian uursätte (“to cross over, translate”) * Swedish översätta (“to translate”) * West Frisian oersette (“to translate”)
Origin
Word Breakdown
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˌoʊvəɹˈsɛt/
- British English: /ˌəʊvəˈsɛt/
Usage
Inflected Forms
oversets (present, singular)
oversetting (participle, present)
no-table-tags (table tags)
glossary (inflection template)
oversettest (archaic, present)
oversettedst (archaic, past)
oversetteth (archaic, present)
- (imperative, past)
over-set (alternative)
oversets (plural)
Derived Forms
oversetter
oversetting