1556 J. Heywood Spider & Flie lxx. 116 An ouer-rech aboue the weake wittes cure.

1815 Sporting Mag. 46 21 In an over-reach by Harmer a close took place, and Harmer was thrown.

1996 J. Reed West End Dilemma in Sweet Sister Lyric 12 The sunlight's overreach Gets violetly through traffic haze.

2000 C. Achebe Home & Exile 18 The Igbo have always lived in a world of continual struggle, motion and change—a feature conspicuous in the tautness, overreach and torsion of their art; it is like a tightrope walk.

1653 J. Cleveland Char. Diurnal-maker 1 It is like over-reach of language, when every..Quack must be termed a Doctor.

a1924 M. Ghose Immortal Eve in Coll. Poems (1970) ii. viii. 304 His crime was love's excess, His great heart's erring over-reach.

1961 B. Fergusson Watery Maze xv. 370 In Burma the Japs made their classic over-reach between March and June of 1944, when..they attempted to surround and defeat the British and Indian forces in Manipur.

a1400 (a1325) Cursor Mundi (Vesp.) 1838 Þe heiest fell þat was our-quare, Þe flod ouer raght [a1400 Fairf. ouer-raȝt; a1400 Gött. ouer ras; a1400 Trin. Cambr. ouer passed] seuen eln and mare.

1596 E. Spenser Second Pt. Faerie Queene v. xii. sig. Y7 Her hands were foule and durtie, neuer washt In all her life, with long nayles ouer raught. View more context for this quotation

1610 G. Markham Maister-peece ii. clxvii. 478 His vpper teeth will ouerreach, and hang ouer his neather teeth.

1639 T. May Cleopatra v. l. 355 Whisper on; you cannot over-reach My jealousies.

a1676 M. Hale Primitive Originat. Mankind (1677) ii. iii. 144 That number..will arise to above 40000 Years, which will over-reach the Creation of Mankind.

1793 T. Beddoes Observ. Nature Demonstrative Evid. 22 The other end will neither over-reach nor fall short of the other end of the lower.

1877 S. Baring-Gould Myst. Suffering 79 The infant will grasp at the moon and overreach an apple.

1890 E. W. Benson Let. 18 Jan. in A. C. Benson Life of E. W. Benson (1899) II. 295 They did realise that there was a knowing and a thinking which far overreached themselves.

1913 W. Tudor Jones tr. R. Eucken Truth of Relig. 340 Man, they say, dare not reckon with God, whose decrees far overreach all human knowledge.

1967 Brain 90 611 The trained animal still overreaches food in the palm, and..he attempts to correct for this error and pick up food.

a1569 M. Coverdale Fruitful Lessons (1593) sig. Pp Whereas there be some men which ouerreach and goe beyond this marke.

1850 H. G. Bohn et al. Hand-bk. Games 381 Should one of the party over-reach the amount that is in possession of an adversary, a ‘sight’ may be demanded.

1945 A. Koestler Yogi & Commissar iii. ii. 143 I learned about plan-figures teached and over-reached.

2002 Africa News (Nexis) 26 Sept. The legislators overreached the constitutional power confined on INEC to determine the timing of elections in the country.

a1400 (a1325) Cursor Mundi (Vesp.) 22377 Þe anticrist..þaas oþer, all he mai ouer-reke, Wit suerd he sal apon þam wreke.

c1440 (?a1400) Morte Arthure 1508 (MED) Raunson me resonabillye, as I may ouerreche, Aftyre my renttez in Rome may redyly forthire.

a1450 (a1338) R. Mannyng Chron. (Lamb.) (1887) i. 1562 (MED) Agaynes þat mought þer noman stande Neyþer byhynde ne byforn: þat he ouer-rought [?a1400 Petyt ouertok; Fr. ert conseus], þe lif was lorn.

a1500 (?c1400) Sir Gowther (Adv.) (1886) 603 (MED) To whyle Syr Gwoþer freschely faȝtte, Mony a hors is deyþe þer kaȝtte, Þat he myȝtte overreche.

1596 E. Spenser Second Pt. Faerie Queene vi. iii. sig. Bb8^v So that at length, after long weary chace,..He ouer raught him. View more context for this quotation

1604 W. Shakespeare Hamlet iii. i. 18 Certaine Players We ore-raught [1623 ore-wrought] on the way. View more context for this quotation

1748 B. Robins & R. Walter Voy. round World by Anson iii. viii. 379 Mr. Anson over-reached the galeon, and lay on her bow.

1874 G. MacDonald Malcolm I. v. 34 The rising tide had overreached and surrounded her.

1885 J. Lumsden Rural Rhymes 235 I overreached the couple, just as they were passing through the first gate beyond the village.

c1400 (c1378) W. Langland Piers Plowman (Laud 581) (1869) B. xiii. 374 And if [I] rope, ouer-reche [c1400 C text ouere-reche]..To seise to me with her sykel þat I ne sewe neure.

a1605 (c1471) Hist. Arrival King Edward IV (1838) 19 The one ende of theyr batayle ovarrechyd th'end of the Kyngs battayle, and so, at that end, they were myche myghtyar than was the Kyngs bataile.

?a1425 in D. Knoop & G. P. Jones Mediæval Mason (1933) 262 To that semble he most nede gon..but he..wt falssehed ys ouer raft Or ellus sekenes hath hym so stronge That he may not come hem amonge.

a1522 G. Douglas tr. Virgil Æneid (1957) v. vi. 122 War nocht the sam misfortoun me ourraucht Quhilk Salyus betyde?

c1540 (?a1400) Gest Historiale Destr. Troy 13898 He braid to the buerne..Ouerraght hym full roidly, reft hym his swerd.

1586 A. Day Eng. Secretorie i. sig. H3 Ouerreached with the tediousnesse of the enterprise.

a1649 W. Drummond Irene in Wks. (1711) 163 So did..[they] find themselves surprised and over-reach'd with unexpected and inexpressible Joys.

1694 F. Bragge Pract. Disc. Parables xiv. 459 How to gripe, and over-reach, and appress, was the subject of their thoughts.

a1522 G. Douglas tr. Virgil Æneid (1959) vi. ix. 136 Ane hiddeous grip [L. vultur] with busteous bowland beik His maw [L. jecur] immortale doith pik and ourreik.

c1540 (?a1400) Gest Historiale Destr. Troy 69 The whiche bokes barely bothe as þai were, A Romayn ouerraght & right hom hym-seluyn.

1555 in J. D. Marwick Rec. Convent. Royal Burghs Scotl. (1870) I. 12 Becaus diues skipperis..daylie frauchtis thair schip's with..vufrement..swa that fremen..may [nocht] haif ony schip..throw the quhilk thai ar gritlie ourecheit [printed onrecheit].

1577 M. Hanmer tr. Socrates Scholasticus i. xvii, in Aunc. Eccl. Hist. 242 Howe he ouerreached their sleyghtes, and subtle combates.

a1592 R. Greene Frier Bacon (1594) sig. F4 Thinkst thou with wealth to ouer reach me?

1623 J. Bingham tr. Xenophon Hist. 46 It behoueth vs..to be no more ouerreached by them.

1652 Bastard iv. iv. 66 Women May sometimes overreach the archest villains.

1702 W. Penn in Mem. Hist. Soc. Pennsylvania (1870) IX. 172 Watch him, out-wit him, and honestly over~reach him.

1749 H. Fielding Tom Jones V. xiv. viii. 171 Both endeavoured to over-reach the other, and, as not rarely happens in such Cases, both had retreated fully satisfied of having obtained the Victory. View more context for this quotation

1896 C. G. D. Roberts Forge in Forest vi. 79 I hated to be overreached by any one in woodcraft.

1909 R. B. Perry Moral Econ. v. 25 An industrial corporation, in order to overreach its competitors, is compelled to adjust its intricate functions with incredible nicety.

1594 T. Nashe Terrors of Night (1958) sig. H^v You..that liue by spoyling and ouer-reaching yong Gentlemen.

1596 E. Spenser Second Pt. Faerie Queene iv. ii. sig. B4^v For that false spright,..Was so expert in euery subtile slight, That it could ouerreach the wisest earthly wight. View more context for this quotation

1611 Bible (King James) 1 Thess. iv. 6 That no man goe beyond and defraud his brother. Marg. Or, oppresse, or, ouerreach.

1642 J. Howell Instr. Forreine Travell viii. 104 When a Jew..meeteth with a Genoway..he pute his fingers in his ears fearing to be overreached by him.

1678 J. Bunyan Pilgrim's Progress 107 This Talkative, if it be possible, will go beyond them, defraud, beguile, and over-reach them. View more context for this quotation

1727 D. Defoe Syst. Magick i. iv. 121 An Evidence how shrewdly the Devil over-reached Mankind.

1743 H. Fielding Jonathan Wild ii. ii, in Misc. III. 106 He never made any Bargain without over-reaching (or, in the vulgar Phrase, cheating) the Person with whom he dealt.

1848 J. S. Mill Princ. Polit. Econ. I. i. vii. §5. 131 There is in all rich communities, a predatory population, who live by pillaging or overreaching other people.

1898 G. B. Shaw Arms & Man II. 31 Ive often thought of that exchange since. He over-reached us about those horses.

1912 W. Rauschenbusch Christianizing Social Order iii. vi. 206 A business man who never overreaches a customer is mentioned with a hush of respect... It would be idle to assert that the temptation to overreach is not a persistent pressure in the life of a large percentage of business men.

a1568 R. Ascham Scholemaster (1570) ii. f. 37 Some men of our time,..haue so ouer reached them selues, in making trew difference in the poyntes afore rehearsed.

1586 W. Warner Albions Eng. iv. xxii. 99 The Parrasite doth ouer-reach; and beares away the game.

1727 J. Gay Fables I. xxvii. 91 But all men over-reach in trade.

1749 H. Fielding Tom Jones III. vii. ix. 62 Politicians often overreach themselves in a Scheme. View more context for this quotation

1834 G. P. R. James John Marston Hall I. x. 124 A grin of satisfaction on the groom's face was the first thing that excited suspicion in my mind that I had overreached myself.

1859 W. M. Thackeray Virginians xii 'Tis known that American folks have become perfectly artless and simple in later times, and never grasp, and never overreach, and are never selfish now.

1884 Sat. Rev. 28 June 835/2 The peculiarity..of that kind of cleverness which..is called attorneyism, is that it frequently overreaches itself.

1932 R. Niebuhr Moral Man & Immoral Society iii. 59 The religious sense of the absolute may, in this and in other instances, overreach itself and end by destroying the ethical possibilities which it has created.

1968 B. Head When Rain Clouds Gather iii. 45 Hatred drove him to overreach himself until he was discovered in a plot to assassinate his brother.

1998 Independent 23 Apr. i. 16/2 His growing number of critics believe he was an arrogant egotist who overreached himself and finally self-destructed.

1607 F. Beaumont Woman Hater iv. iii. sig. H1^v Prooue it againe Sir, it may bee your sense was set too high, & so ouer wrought it selfe.

1689 A. Wood Life & Times (1894) III. 306 A terrible fit of the crampe above the ancle..occasion'd..by over-retching my self.

1751 R. Morris Life John Daniel in Lib. Impostors (1926) i. xvi. 191 In trying to settle upon the rock, we had overreached ourselves and fallen in here.

1825 Lancet 28 May 240/2 A thin healthy woman, hanging clothes from a second-floor window, over-reached herself, the line broke, dragged her out, and she fell on her side.

1896 Daily News 6 Aug. 7/3 A small boy..overreached and fell from an ornamental bridge into the stream.

1992 Pract. Householder Nov. 55/1 Never lean sideways from a ladder or over-reach—move the ladder instead.

1890 Lancet 1 Feb. 241/1 She ‘over-reached’ her right arm and felt pain in the shoulder.

a1568 R. Ascham Scholemaster (1570) ii. f. 45^v They will sonest ouer reach in taulke, and fardest cum behinde in writing.

1600 P. Holland tr. Livy Rom. Hist. x. xxx. 374 But some have overreached a little, & written, that the enemies were 40330 foot, and 46000 horse strong.

1610 A. Willet Hexapla in Danielem ii. ix. 311 The first account commeth short..so the other ouerreacheth aboue 60. yeares.

1638 W. Chillingworth Relig. Protestants i. vii. §35. 408 You overreach in saying they cannot.

1851 W. Flag Let. 11 Jan. in Flagg Corr. (1986) 137 He endeavored to prove the inspiration of the Scriptures by showing that they evince much more knowledge of Astronomy... I think he overreached and saw too much, more than was meant.

1967 Jrnl. Pediatrics 70 154/1 When controversial issues are defended, there is a tendency to overreach to support each position.

1992 T. Morrison Jazz 220 I got so aroused while meddling, while finger-shaping, I overreached and missed the obvious.

2002 Public Interest (Nexis) Fall 80–94 The cyber-politics experts greatly overreached in their predictions.

1610 Bp. J. Hall Common Apol. against Brownists §55 That this Leprosie infects all persons and things is shamefully ouer-reacht.

1822 A. Peterkin Notes Orkney & Zetl. 160 His Lordship's rents are over~reatched in the last valuation.

1590 R. Harvey Plaine Percevall 5 A horse may ouer reach in a true pace.

1601 P. Holland tr. Pliny Hist. World I. 350 Lions and Camels only..keep pace in their march, foot by foot, that is to say, they neuer set their left foot before their right, nor ouer-reach with it.

1706 Phillips's New World of Words (new ed.) To Over-reach,..to hit the Fore-feet with the hinder, as some Horses do.

1740 H. Bracken Farriery Improv'd (ed. 2) II. i. 48 They are also apt to over-reach, or hit their Hind-Shoes against their Fore-Shoes.

1864 A. Trollope Can you forgive Her? I. xvi. 126 Towards the end of the preceding season he had overreached himself and had been lame.

1986 Sporting Life Weekender 17 Apr. 4/3 The chaser over-reached himself at Ascot and had to be stitched up.

1992 Sporting Life 9 Oct. 18/3 The promising five-year-old, a three-quarters brother to Derby winner Golden Fleece,..over-reached jumping the first hurdle... O'Toole said: ‘All we could do was have him put down.’

1600 R. Surflet tr. C. Estienne & J. Liébault Maison Rustique vii. xxiv. 843 The elder harts in their gate doe neuer ouer-reache the former foote with the hinder..but it is not so in young harts, for they in their gate doe ouer-reach and set the hinder foote more forward then the forefoote, after the manner of the ambling mule.

?1847 T. Brown Man. Mod. Farriery 170 This..comprehends wounds and bruises of the coronet..in the fore feet, by the hind foot overreaching the heel when in rapid action and wounding it.