| 释义 |
overhead, adv., n., a.
(see below)
Forms: see over and head n.1
[The phrase over head written as one word: see over- 31, 32, 33.]
A. adv. |əʊvəˈhɛd|.
1. a. Above one's head; on high, aloft; up in the air or sky, esp. in or near the zenith; on the floor or story above. (See also head n.1 37 a.)
1532in W. H. Turner Select. Rec. Oxford 109 Tymber owerhedde, as rafters and lathes. 1667Milton P.L. i. 784 Over head the Moon Sits Arbitress, and neerer to the Earth Wheels her pale course. 1769Falconer Dict. Marine (1789) Y y iv, It is..hung over-head in the..cabin. 1884W. C. Smith Kildrostan ii. i. 49 Like the merle That sees a gled o'erhead.
b. So that the water or other surrounding substance is over one's head; so as to be completely submerged or immersed; also fig. (See over prep. 3; head n.1 37 b, 39 b.)
1653[see head n.1 37 b]. 1706Refl. upon Ridicule 110 Her Husband was over-head in Debt. 1782Priestley Corrupt. Chr. II. vii. 69 [They thought] it indecent to plunge persons over-head in water. 1816J. Wilson City of Plague ii. v. 20 This standing overhead within a grave Hath made me colder than an icicle.
2.
†a. In each case, one with another, together. Obs. (Cf. Ger. überhaupt.) esp.
b. Taken together, or one with another; reckoned per head. Sc.
c1000ælfric Hom. I. 30 Þæt ælc man ofer heafod sceolde cennan his ᵹebyrde. c1400Mandeville (Roxb.) xxv. 119 Sum tyme it fallez,..þat þe..childer wendez togyder in a company, and þaire men menged owerheued [MS. Cott. Titus her folk ben all medled in fere]. 1504–6Ld. Treas. Acc. Scot. III. 89, xxvj elne carsay blew, rede, quhit and ȝallow;..ilk elne iiijs. viijd. our hede. 1547in W. Hunter Biggar & Ho. Fleming xxiv. (1862) 312, xxxij score viij sheep, price of the piece overheid. 1799J. Robertson Agric. Perth 516 The rent, over-head..was under 1s. 6d. per acre. 1824Scott St. Ronan's i, Just a Scots pint overhead..and no man ever saw them the waur o't.
†3. Headlong, precipitately. Obs.
a1578Lindesay (Pitscottie) Chron. Scot. (S. T. S.) I. 77 Quhat mischeif befallis them that runes owerheid to ony porpois witht out regaird or foirsight to god or man.
B. n. |ˈəʊvəhɛd; sense 2 also əʊvəˈhɛd|.
†1. Old term of Fence: app. A blow over the head. Obs.
13..K. Alis. (Laud MS.) 7385 Wel hij fiȝtten on þe pleyn Wiþ tresgat, wiþ reremeyn Wiþ ouerheued & wiþ stook Aiþer on oþere þe swerd so shook.
2. That which is above; the firmament.
1865G. M. Hopkins Poems (1967) 151 The grass was red And long, the trees were colour'd, but the o'er-head, Milky and dark, with an attuning stress Controll'd them to a grey-green temperateness. 1911Chambers's Jrnl. Jan. 79/1 It forms a handy guide, philosopher, and friend to the vast unfathomable overhead. 1959E. Collier Three against Wilderness i. 8 Live sparks rocketed up into the smoky overhead.
3. (Freq. pl.) Ellipt. for overhead charges, expenses, etc.
1914Automobile Topics XXXIV. 31/2 One of the numerous fallacies of business..is the argument that the small organization is in a position to serve the customer to better advantage for the reason that its ‘over⁓heads’ are small. 1915Lit. Digest 21 Aug. 360/1 (Advt.), Her typewriter is standing idle and adding to ‘overhead’. 1922Public Opinion 29 Dec. 629/2 We are able to reduce over⁓heads through the employment of far more automatic machinery. 1930J. B. Priestley Angel Pavement i. 36 The first thing, the very first thing, we've got to do is to reduce the overheads in this business. 1954Encounter Dec. 79/1 The two million families..are the enemies of the workers in the modern sectors of the French economy. Their overhead is more than the traffic will bear, and the worker feels, if he does not understand, this. 1972Accountant 17 Aug. 215/1 Work in progress to be stated at cost including overhead. 1972Computer Jrnl. XV. 199/1 A possible objection to the use of streams might be that the overheads associated with their structure make them excessively inefficient. 1974Terminol. Managem. & Financial Accountancy (Inst. Cost and Managem. Accountants) 19 Overhead, the total cost of indirect materials, wages and expenses.
4. Lawn Tennis. An overhead stroke.
1969New Yorker 14 June 46/3 His overhead is hit with his whole arm—no mere flick of the wrist. 1972D. Delman Sudden Death vi. 145 I'll hit lobs to you so you can work the kinks out of your overhead. 1977Transatlantic Rev. lx. 108 He slashes, he wheels, he whaps an easy overhead into the net.
C. adj. |ˈəʊvəhɛd|.
1. a. Placed or situated overhead, or at some distance above the ground. (In mechanics also applied to driving mechanism placed above the object driven, or to a machine having such mechanism.)
1874Trans. Amer. Inst. Mining Eng. II. 68 The bell and hopper are suspended from an overhead railroad track. 1875Knight Dict. Mech., Overhead-gear, driving-gear above the object driven..Overhead Steam-engine, an engine in which the cylinder is above the crank, the thrust motion being downward. 1884Law Times Rep. LI. 160/2 A telephone company were the owners of certain overhead wires. 1895Funk's Stand. Dict., Overhead check, same as Overcheck. 1898Westm. Gaz. 26 Feb. 6/3 Efforts are being made to introduce overhead wire electric tramways into London and the suburbs. 1917‘Contact’ Airman's Outings 36, I awoke to the roar of engines, followed by an overhead drone as a party of bombers circled round until they were ready to start. 1921Times Lit. Suppl. 8 Sept. 574/3 Stress is laid on the complete clearance of overhead cover [from teak plantations]. 1949P. Latham in Aldiss & Harrison Decade 1940s (1975) 204 Stoddard turned off the overhead light. 1959Chambers's Encycl. V. 97/2 With A.C. systems difficulties may arise due to the inductance of overhead lines and the capacitance of underground cables. 1976Billings (Montana) Gaz. 16 June 10-C/4 (Advt.), Comm. Warehouse Space 300, 400, 600 and 1000 sq. ft., paved, lighted, security fence, overhead door, cold storage.
b. overhead cam-shaft, a cam-shaft mounted above the cylinder block of an internal-combustion engine; overhead valve, a valve in an internal-combustion engine which has its seat in the top of the combustion chamber, in the surface opposite the piston.
1912R. W. A. Brewer Motor Car Construction iii. 42 One of the principal objections to overhead valves in the past was the difficulty of driving an overhead camshaft... With the introduction of silent chain drives for camshafts these difficulties no longer exist. 1921A. W. Judge Automobile & Aircraft Engines viii. 316 Another reason for the better volumetric efficiency of the overhead valve lies in the fact that in the case of the side-by-side valves the charge has to pass over a larger combustion chamber area before it arrives in the cylinder. 1958Times 1 July 6/6 Instead of having a side valve engine of 1,265 c.c., the new model has the overhead valve 1,390 c.c. engine. 1966McGraw-Hill Encycl. Sci. & Technol. XIV. 263/2 In overhead valve engines, the cam shaft may be mounted on the cylinder head near the valves. 1974Country Life 21 Nov. 1579/1 The engine with its twin overhead cam-shafts is buzzy at high revs.
2. Applicable to one with another; ‘all-round’; general, average: see A. 2.
1891Law Times XCII. 188/2 To give a fair overhead sample of the wheat. 1892Pall Mall G. 3 Aug. 3/3 An over⁓head charge of so much per ton [for parcels] leaving Euston.
3. Lawn Tennis. Of a stroke: made with the racket above one's head.
1904J. P. Paret et al. Lawn Tennis 345 Overhead, with the racket above the head. 1919C. Hierons Lawn Tennis xiv. 61 In overhead volleying there is far too much pat ball. 1925K. McKane Lawn Tennis vi. 98 The most important of all overhead strokes—the service. 1951Harman & Monroe Use your Head in Tennis v. 45 For the overhead slice serve, take hold of your racket handle in the eastern grip.
4. Of costs or expenses: incurred in the production of a batch of articles apart from the prime cost of each (cf. oncost), or in the upkeep of plant and premises.
1909J. L. Nicholson Factory Organization & Costs i. 7 The distribution of manufacturing expenses, sometimes called overhead charges, and in other instances, indirect expense or burden. 1911F. E. Webner Factory Costs xvii. 212 Under such a system most of the usual overhead expenses become direct. 1922Westm. Gaz. 8 Dec. 6/2 The overhead cost of every factory that is gas-lighted will go up. 1930A. H. Church Overhead Expense i. i. 1 Overhead expense in manufacturing is defined usually as consisting of the so-called ‘fixed’ charges (such as rent, interest, depreciation, insurance, taxes, etc.) plus all that large class of expenditure on labor and materials which cannot be charged definitely to any given job or lot of product. 1958J. F. Magee Production Planning & Inventory Control iii. 26 Under absorption costing, the value includes not only direct costs but also allocated overhead charges (usually only factory overhead). 1970Encycl. Brit. XVI. 1167/2 Overhead costs are various business expenses that cannot be readily identified with specific products or services produced or sold. 1974Terminol. Managem. & Financial Accountancy (Inst. Cost and Managem. Accountants) 42 Overhead distribution sheet, a columnar form used for the purpose of distribution of overhead expenditure over cost centres, and for the apportionment of the accumulated expenses of service cost centres over others. |