| 释义 |
overmuch, a. and adv.
(ˈəʊvəˈmʌtʃ, with shifting stress)
[over- 28, 30. Cf. OE. ofermicel overmickle.]
Too much.
A. adj. Too great in amount; excessive, superabundant.
1297R. Glouc. (Rolls) 10788 Þou sucst [= seest] þis folc ouer muche þat aȝe þe is, And þin owe ouer lute [= little]. c1450Voc. in Wr.-Wülcker 597/40 Nimius, overmyche. 1568Grafton Chron. II. 193 He gave himselfe also to over⁓muche drinking. 1641Prynne Antip. 17 The Kings over-much earnestnesse. 1745De Foe's Eng. Tradesman vi. (1841) I. 41 This was the effect of giving overmuch credit. 1814Cary Dante, Paradise xxii. 24 Fearful of o'er-much presuming. a1875Helps Ess., Org. Daily Life 134 Listened to with overmuch credulity.
b. absol. (rarely as n.) Too great an amount; too much; excess; superfluity.
1303R. Brunne Handl. Synne 6518 Ouermoche ys abominable & stynk. 1541R. Copland Galyen's Terapeutyke 2 B ij, In an other place we shall speke of the ouer moche or lacke of y⊇ partyes. a1568R. Ascham Scholem. (Arb.) 115 That is, by way of Epitome, to cut all ouer much away. 1784R. Bage Barham Downs I. 166 In short, this over⁓much of it is the weakness of the mind. 1847Emerson Poems (1857) 52 The world hath overmuch of pain.
B. adv. To too great an extent or degree; excessively.
c1380Wyclif Sel. Wks. III. 364 Þes newe ordris and þer fautours failen ouer myche in charite. 1490Caxton Eneydos xxv. 92 Hym thought ouer moche diffycile and to longe a thinge to make the walles. 1560J. Daus tr. Sleidane's Comm. 381 b, If they see themselues ouermuche aggravated. 1653Gataker Vind. Annot. Jer. 3 For one to be over-much seen in geomancie, palmistrie,..or aruspicie. 1788Trifler No. 14. 189 We are commended not to be religious overmuch. 1850Tennyson In Mem. lxxxv, I woo your love: I count it crime To mourn for any overmuch.
Hence overˈmuchness [cf. OE. ofermicelnes], the condition of being overmuch; excess, superabundance.
1636B. Jonson Discov. Wks. (Rtldg.) 758/2 Superlation and over-muchness amplifies. 1660tr. Paracelsus' Archidoxis ii. 80 Sulphur..rules over that which is the overmuchness or superfluity of the other two. 1867De Morgan in Athenæum 19 Jan. 90 The omitted words, which Mr. Reddie..no doubt took for pleonasm, superfluity, overmuchness. |