?1523 J. Fitzherbert Bk. Husbandry f. xxxv^v Atteynt is a sorance that cometh of an ouerre rechyng.

1573 T. Tusser Fiue Hundreth Points Good Husbandry (new ed.) f. 2 At first for ouer reaching, & lacke of taking hid.

a1625 King James I Wiper of Peoples Teares in Poems (1958) II. xv. 190 Proud is your foolish ouerreaching... Kings will hardly take aduice Of Counsell.

1668 F. Kirkman Eng. Rogue II. xxiv. 244 Indeed he does allow of my knavery and craftiness in over-reaching of others; for he in general is accounted the fittest servant of our Trade, that can out-wit and over-reach his brother bookseller.

1743 H. Fielding Jonathan Wild ii. xii, in Misc. III. 174 The greatest Men may sometimes overshoot themselves, but their very Mistakes are so many Lessons of Instruction. To teach others the Art of over-reaching.

a1774 A. Tucker Light of Nature Pursued (1777) III. iii. 30 Quarrels, thefts, over-reachings, amours..and partialities among them.

1845 N. P. Willis Dashes at Life with Free Pencil iv. 179 Is there no way to implore Valtellina to abate a little of his overreaching of voice, in that superb invocation? He overdoes it terribly.

1875 E. H. Knight Amer. Mech. Dict. II. 1585/1 Over-reaching device,..an attachment to the leg or foot of a horse to prevent the catching of the toe of the hind foot upon the heel of the fore foot.

a1900 R. Hovey Jongleurs in More Songs from Vagabondia (1908) 2 And the trader's tricks, Deals, overreachings.

1971 N.Y. Law Jrnl. 23 Nov. 18/5 The 1955 amendment..was adopted..to protect such tenants from overreaching by landlords who authorized commercial and business leases upon tenants.

1993 Equus Jan. 62/3 Stiffness or spasticity is the first indication, followed an incoordination (ataxia) with overreaching of the limbs.

1579 W. Fulke Heskins Parl. Repealed in D. Heskins Ouerthrowne 340 He must note an hyperbole or ouerreaching speach in this sentence.

1598 J. Dickenson Greene in Conceipt 24 Shee had so cunningly demeaned her selfe, that Giraldos wife (circumuented by her ouer-reaching wiles) deemed her a deare friend, communicating with her the chiefest of her thoughts.

1603 R. Wilbraham Jrnl. (1902) 59 By reason of her great reading and over~reaching experience.

a1652 R. Brome Queenes Exchange (1657) v. i Your over-reaching care to give my Dignity As much as in you lay unto another.

1709 R. Gould Corruption of Times in Wks. II. 279 No griping, scraping, hard, assiduous Slave, No wealthy Fool, or over-reaching Knave.

1775 R. B. Sheridan Let. 3 May–21 June (1966) iii. 302 To me there appears plainly in them the same interested overreaching Cunning for which he has so long been eminent.

1841 ‘G. Eliot’ Let. 23 Oct. (1984) I. 116 You are veritably an overreaching friend..not content with my scribbling a couple of sheets..you even insist on dictating the subjects of the same.

1890 L. C. D'Oyle Notches Rough Edge Life 159 Not a breath..swayed the over~reaching pines upon the silent cliffs.

1909 J. Miller Indian Summer in Poems 143 With russet leaves about the brows That reach'd from over-reaching trees.

1994 Denver Post 6 Feb. t1/1 The hush beneath the overreaching trees at Tikal..makes treading the ancient pathways like entering a house of worship.

1904 N.E.D. at Overreaching ppl. a. Overreachingness.

1976 Polit. Theory 4 60 A grandeur to the power of Western conceptions of man's universe, in both their depth and their overreachingness.