1849 Amer. Whig Rev. Mar. 302/1 So enormous were the sums spent in buying support for the government.., that with all his civil list, his state domains, his large over-cuttings in the national forests..[etc.], Louis Philippe was always in debt.

1866 S. E. Todd Bridgeman's Amer. Gardener's Assistant (rev. ed.) i. 130 Care should be exercised not to weaken the roots [of sea-kale] too much by over-cutting for in that case it would injure next year's bearing.

1928 M. D. Williams Pract. Machine Mining iv. 45 The ‘Samson’ chain machine when adapted for overcutting is fitted with a jacking device which permits the raising or lowering of the machine in case of variation in the position of the band to be cut.

1935 H. C. Bryson Gramophone Rec. iv. 83 If overcutting seems likely to occur, the electrical input of the recorder is cut down to the safety line, i.e., the amplitude is reduced.

1960 Jrnl. Royal Statist. Soc. A. 123 78 Supply [of sisal and other fibres] can be increased by over-cutting, which leads to a reduced yield later.

1998 Canad. Mining Jrnl. (Nexis) Apr. 23 After the overcutting and undercutting, a Joy horizontal drill bores 21 holes.

1923 M. & C. Machine Mining 2 283 (caption) A repeat order for overcutting turbine driven universal machines for heading and longwall service.

1946 Trans. Inst. Mining Engin. 106 20 (caption) Overcutting coal-cutter arranged to cut at 7 ft.