1456 Acts Parl. Scotl. (1814) I. 45/2 Quhen ony gret ourset is lik to cum on the bordouraris þai think þe Inland men sulde be redy in þar supple.

1488 (c1478) Hary Actis & Deidis Schir William Wallace (Adv.) (1968–9) ix. l. 10 [The king of France] knew rycht weill, schortly to wndyrstand, The gret supprys and ourset off Ingland.

a1600 (?c1535) tr. H. Boece Hist. Scotl. (Mar Lodge) (1946) ii. vii. f. 70 Britouns..abstenit fra slauchter of sic persouns..the mare that thai knewe the silly pepill be mony sindry ouresettis supprisit before.

a1658 J. Durham Clavis Cantici (1668) 290 That is like the pain procured by an overset of the stomack..a queasie and weak stomack that cannot bear much.

1727 P. Longueville Hermit 239 I..was over-set with the same Sea, under the flat bottom'd Boat, where you found me. That was a happy Overset for thee.

1789 R. Twining Let. 30 Aug. in Sel. Papers Twining Family (1887) 193 I suppose you have heard from my brother of my downfall?.. A thundering overset—such as might have been felt, I conceive, at the Antipodes.

1860 J. Parton Life A. Jackson III. xxvi. 337 He reached the capital in sorry plight; almost penniless,..with a great gash in the side of his head from an overset near Washington.

1887 R. Browning Let. 21 Aug. (1933) 267 So you..have managed to enhance the enjoyment of your holiday by an overset—damaged wrist, and so forth!.. I read in a newspaper that an adventurous somebody had chosen to skate down a steep incline.

eOE Royal Psalter xxxvii. 5 Iniquitates meae superposuerunt caput meum sicut onus graue grauate sunt super me : unryhtwisnessa mina ofersetton heafdod min swa swa byrþen hefig gehefegode hy synd ofer mec.

OE Wærferð tr. Gregory Dialogues (Corpus Cambr.) (1900) iv. lix. 347 Ic mid slæpe oferseted wæs.

a1225 ( Rule St. Benet (Winteney) (1888) 85 Gyf hi mid weorces ȝeswince to þam swðe ofersette [OE Corpus Cambr. ofsette] beoð, þæt hi swilces eacan behofian, standa se eaca on þære abbodesse dome.

a1393 J. Gower Confessio Amantis (Fairf.) v. 2707 (MED) He, whom gold hath overset, Was trapped in his oghne net.

c1500 (?a1437) Kingis Quair (1939) lxxiii Ourset so sorow had bothe hert and mynd.

c1540 (?a1400) Gest Historiale Destr. Troy 3388 Who might stithly absteyne, or stable of teris, Þat prestly were pricket with paynes so fele, And with sorow ouerset sothely as I?

1567 Compend. Bk. Godly Songs (1897) 27 Quhen sadnes hes ouerset my hart.

1630 in T. Craig-Brown Hist. Selkirkshire (1886) II. 57 Quhen sair calamitie ouirsettis ane gentill hart.

1698 J. Norris Pract. Disc. Divine Subj. IV. 99 A Man whose Mind is fill'd and overset with these great Ideas.

1792 R. Bage Man as he Is IV. cxii. 202 He was in love; and as love is so apt to overset poor reason, we must on that account pardon him his terrible opinions.

1813 J. Austen Pride & Prejudice II. xvi. 190 Good Heaven! Brighton, and a whole campful of soldiers, to us, who have been overset already by one poor regiment of militia, and the monthly balls of Meryton. View more context for this quotation

1870 J. A. Heraud In-gathering 118 When we parted, that ‘good night’ of thine, Without the expected kiss, nigh overset My heart, that swelled as with a thought divine.

c1330 (?a1300) Arthour & Merlin (Auch.) (1973) 7574 (MED) Þis ribaus þus, þousandes þre, Ofersett þe cuntre And brent and slouȝ man & wiif.

a1387 J. Trevisa tr. R. Higden Polychron. (St. John's Cambr.) (1874) V. 199 Anon Theodosius oversette [a1425 Harl. hade victory ageyne; L. fudit] þe Siches, þe Alanes, þe Hunnes, and þe Goothes.

tr. Palladius De re Rustica (Duke Humfrey) (1896) i. 144 Yf..Vulturnus ouersette [L. exurit] A vyne in heete.

a1470 T. Malory Morte Darthur (Winch. Coll.) 1191 Sir Gawayne lat purvey many knyghtes for to wayte uppon sir Launcelot for to oversette hym and to sle hym.

?1553 (c1501) G. Douglas Palice of Honour (London) iii. l. 1359 in Shorter Poems (1967) 88 And secondly, I saw a lusty barge Ouirset with seyes.

1569 R. Grafton Chron. I. vii. 116 Ethelfride king of Northumberlande ouerset the Britons at the Citie of Chester, and forced them to flee.

1619 E. M. Bolton tr. Florus Rom. Hist. 78 Decius..ouer-set in the bosome of the valley, tooke vpon his owne head..all the wrath of the Gods.

a1398 J. Trevisa tr. Bartholomaeus Anglicus De Proprietatibus Rerum (BL Add.) f. 249 In fatte lond..oon seed ouersetteth oþer atte laste by to greet multiplicacioun of it self.

a1398 J. Trevisa tr. Bartholomaeus Anglicus De Proprietatibus Rerum (BL Add.) f. 250 Whanne þey beþ ouersette [L. superpositis] and y-pressed wiþ stones and oþere heuy þinges yleyde þer vpon,..þanne þey beþ arrayed, y-hewe, and y-planed.

a1547 Earl of Surrey tr. Virgil Certain Bks. Aenæis (1557) iv. sig. Ei And whiles they raunge to ouer set the groues.

1640 J. Howell Δενδρολογια 82 The more they [sc. holy Plants] were oppreβd and overset with the weight of Persecution, the faster, stronger, and streighter they grew up.

?1533 W. Tyndale Expos. Mathew v. f. lxi The vsurars and publicanes..bought in great the emperoures trybute, and to make their moost aduauntage, did ouer sett the people.

1645 J. Howell Epistolæ Ho-elianæ iv. x. 12 Coming (for more frugality) in the common Boat, which was oreset with Marchandize, and other passengers, in a thick Fog the Vessell turn'd ore, and so many perish'd.

1733 B. Lynde Diary 31 Aug. in B. Lynde & B. Lynde Diaries (1880) 138 Fair and hot; Browne, Barbacue; hack overset.

c1540 J. Bellenden tr. H. Boece Hyst. & Cron. Scotl. iv. xvi. f. 50/1 Na litil honour apperis to ws quhylkis hes ouirset sa mony strait montanis, woddis, fludis, and dangerus firthis of this region.

1649 J. Howell Preheminence Parl. 4 This fatal black Cloud, which now oresets this poor Island.

1599 W. Shakespeare Romeo & Juliet iii. v. 136 The Barke thy body is..the windes thy sighes, Who..will ouerset Thy tempest tossed body. View more context for this quotation

a1631 J. Donne Poems (1633) 16 A great ship overset, or without saile Hulling, might..be like this whale.

1669 S. Pepys Diary 8 Mar. (1976) IX. 474 The King and Duke of York is gone by 3 in the morning and had the misfortune to be overset;..the King all dirty, but no hurt.

1695 W. Congreve Love for Love iii. i. 42 You may run the risk to be overset, and then you'll carry your Keels above Water, he, he, he.

1719 D. Defoe Life Robinson Crusoe 82 I overset my Raft.

1782 F. Burney Cecilia IV. viii. v. 226 The postilion, in turning too suddenly..overset the carriage.

1883 Oxf. Mag. 17 Oct. 307/2 For lunch there were the three cocoa-nuts you overset with three bludgeons for threepence.

1956 W. S. Churchill Hist. Eng.-speaking Peoples I. iii. ii. 309 Who could tell that some sudden baronial exploit might not overset the whole structure upon which they stood?

1972 G. M. Brown Greenvoe (1976) i. 12 But three years before, the occupant, Timmy Folster, had overset the primus stove when he was frying onions for his supper.

?a1600 ( R. Sempill Legend Bischop St. Androis in J. Cranstoun Satirical Poems Reformation (1891) I. xlv. 389 His contagious stomack Was sa owersett with Burdeous drummake.

1695 J. Collier Misc. upon Moral Subj. 184 A glorious Appearance from the other World, has often over-set the best Men.

1766 A. Nicol Poems Several Subj. 99 He died in nae choleric pet, Nor was his stomach owerset.

1788 Lady E. Butler Jrnl. 25 Nov. in E. M. Bell Hamwood Papers (1930) vi. 152 Lady Mornington..was entirely overset with grief, horror, and apprehension.

1861 Tennyson Let. in Life (1897) I. xxii. 476 France, I believe, overset me, and more especially the foul ways and unhappy diet of..Auvergne.

1870 C. Dickens Edwin Drood xiii. 102 The news is sure to overset him.

1994 R. Davies Cunning Man 112 I could see that she was by no means overset by Brocky.

1641 Earl of Monmouth tr. G. F. Biondi Hist. Civil Warres Eng. I. i. 4 He was like a ship which not fit to beare so great sayle, oversets.

1697 R. Blackmore King Arthur iii. 91 Some Vessels..Were dash'd to pieces on the craggy Rocks. Some overset, some founder'd, some the Sand Suck'd in, and some were lost upon the Strand.

1707 London Gaz. No. 4305/3 The Hastings..Struck on the Sands, and..over-set.

1793 J. Smeaton Narr. Edystone Lighthouse (ed. 2) §318 So violent a storm of wind, that he thought the house would overset.

1879 R. L. Stevenson Trav. with Donkey 11 It will assuredly topple and tend to overset.

1927–9 H. Wheeler Waverley Children's Dict. V. 3074/2 Skittles overset..when they topple over.

1679 J. Crowne Ambitious Statesman i. 8 I'le make 'em glad to give me Sea-room enough, or I'le oreset the Kingdom.

1719 D. Defoe Life Robinson Crusoe 338 The sudden Surprize of Joy had overset Nature, and I had dy'd upon the Spot.

1782 J. H. St. J. de Crèvecoeur Lett. from Amer. Farmer iii. 79 Their ancient conquest had been a great detriment to them, by over-setting their landed property.

1834 T. Carlyle Sartor Resartus ii. v. 48/2 A certain Calypso-Island..as it were falsifies and oversets his whole reckoning.

1859 C. Dickens Tale of Two Cities ii. xix. 136 He spoke with the diffidence of a man who knew how slight a thing would overset the delicate organisation of the mind.

1932 R. Macaulay They were Defeated i. xii. 82 'Tis this meddling with secular matters by the Church that is oversetting England.

1749 G. Lavington Enthusiasm Methodists & Papists: Pt. II Pref. p. xxi You was in Danger of oversetting from a Torrent of Popularity and Contempt.

1792 G. Morris in J. Sparks Life G. Morris (1832) II. 244 The late constitution of this country has overset.

1842 Ld. Tennyson Talking Oak lxv, in Poems (new ed.) II. 80 While kingdoms overset, Or lapse from hand to hand.