| 释义 |
overact, v.|ˌəʊvərˈækt|
[over- 26, 27, 20, 22, 21, 13.]
1. intr. To act in excess of what is proper, requisite, right, or lawful; to go too far in action.
1611B. Jonson Catiline ii. iii, You over-act, when you should under-do. 1671Marvell Corr. Wks. 1872–5 II. 383 Indemnity..for those who have bin punished by the former law as for them who have overacted in the execution of it. 1885Mabel Collins Prettiest Woman ii, She is a grand creature, but she over-acts.
2. trans. To act or render (a part) with exaggerated or unnecessary action or emphasis; to overdo in action.
1631Massinger Beleeve as you list v. i, You disgrace your courtship In overactinge it, my lord. 1660Wood Life (O.H.S.) I. 370 So zealous a worshipper towards the east in his College chappell, that, overacting it, he became ridiculous. 1760Lloyd Actor in Ann. Reg. 218 Of all the evils which the Stage molest, I hate your fool who overacts his jest. 1849Macaulay Hist. Eng. x. II. 659 Afraid of not sustaining well a part which was uncongenial to her feelings, she had overacted it.
†b. To act (a part) over and over again. Obs.
1653J. Hall Paradoxes 44 Hee that killed himselfe, out of a wearinesse of overacting the same things.
†3. To go beyond or surpass in acting; to outdo.
1643Plain English 6 Wise as they take themselves, [they] may be over-acted in their own designs. 1647Case Kingd. 5 To supplant the Bishops..and over-act them at their owne game. 1657–61Heylin Hist. Ref. 43 Candidianus, a Count Imperial..over-acted any thing that Cromwel did.
†4. To actuate or influence too powerfully; to overcome. Obs.
1663J. Spencer Prodigies (1665) 287 The true fears thereof would be ready to fly away (like the Spirits of over-heated liquors) if overacted by such strong and continued jealousies of heaven. 1669W. Simpson Hydrol. Chym. 149 The one by its greater proportion, over-acts or overcomes the other. 1677Gilpin Demonol. (1867) 238 By overacting their fears, or astonishing their minds.
5. To act beyond or in excess of. nonce-use.
1858Bushnell Serm. New Life xii. (1869) 169 As he once overacted his will in self-conduct, so now he is underacting it in quietism.
Hence ˌoveˈracted ppl. a., overdone.
1665J. Spencer Vulg. Proph. 90 To become ridiculous by an over-acted imitation. 1777Robertson Hist. Amer. (1783) I. 214 Over-acted demonstrations of regard. |