overswellv.
/ˌəʊvəˈswɛl/, U.S. /ˌoʊvərˈswɛl/ 1. intransitive and transitive. To swell excessively.
ΘΚΠ
the world > space > extension in space > expansion or enlargement > expand or enlarge [verb (intransitive)] > distend > swell > excessively
to-bellc1175
overswell?1555
?1555 Image of Idlenesse vii. 39 My poore harte..yf it shulde not..be suffred to asswage and ease it selfe, wold ouer swell with deadly sighes.
1589 W. Byrd Nightingale so Pleasant in Songs Sundrie Natures sig. Cv But my poore hart..with sorrows ouer swelling..no pleasure takes, in these his sports excelling.
1592 A. Day 2nd Pt. Eng. Secretorie sig. H3, in Eng. Secretorie (rev. ed.) Ouerswolne with your humors.
a1620 M. Fotherby Atheomastix (1622) i. vi. §4. 48 Monstrously ouerswolne with pride and vanity.
a1628 F. Greville Remains (1670) 40 Souls thus over-swoln with windy vice, Must wisely be allay'd, and moulded be.
1651 T. Randolph Hey for Honesty iii. iii. 25 Citizens so over-swell'd with interest-mony, that they were in danger of breaking.
a1667 T. Pestell Poems (1940) 25 Your dignitie dos not to strangnesse compell you Nor with a proud tympany all overswell you.
a1832 R. C. Sands Writings (1835) II. 351 His heart o'erswelled With its own agony.
1880 E. Arnold Poems 127 The seven bells Of Santo Pietro..Boomed with bronze throats the happy tidings out; Till the great tenor, overswelled with sound, Cracked itself dumb.
1996 W. Doyle Venality viii. 266 He was more worried by the prospect of overswelling the ranks of the nobility than by the drain of productive capital into idle privilege.
2000 Clarion-Ledger (Jackson, Mississippi) (Nexis) 25 Aug. 1 e Probably most of us won't starve or overswell from scurrying through or skipping an occasional lunch.
2. transitive. Esp. of a body of water: to swell so as to spill over or beyond (a bank, barrier, limit, etc.). Also occasionally intransitive. Now rare (poetic in later use).
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > liquid > liquid which has been emitted > overflow > [verb (transitive)]
overruneOE
overflow1548
overswell1597
the world > movement > motion in a certain direction > movement over, across, through, or past > [verb (transitive)] > move beyond > spill over the edge of
overflow1548
overswell1597
overbrim1818
overspill1855
overwell1864
overlip1872
overdrip1897
the world > relative properties > quantity > sufficient quantity, amount, or degree > excessive amount or degree > be excessive [verb (intransitive)] > superabound > overflow
overfloweOE
overruna1450
to flow above the banks1495
to flow over1526
superabound1582
overswell1597
to flow past shore?1615
restagnate1653
to well over1843
to brim over1858
1597 Bp. J. Hall Virgidemiarum: 1st 3 Bks. i. ii. 4 Mee thought I fear'd, least the hors-hoofed well His natiue banks did proudly ouer-swell.
a1616 W. Shakespeare King John (1623) ii. i. 337 The currant..Whose passage..Shall leaue his natiue channell, and ore-swell..euen thy confining shores. View more context for this quotation
1624 E. Fairfax tr. T. Tasso Godfrey of Bulloigne (new ed.) i. lxxv. 16 When his banks the Prince of riuers, Poe Doth ouerswell, he breakes with hideous fall, The mossie rocks and trees oregrowne with age.
1640 E. Reynolds Treat. Passions xxx. 320 The Latter resisting the natural course of the streame..makes it..to overswell on all sides.
1647 C. Harvey Schola Cordis 143 I am sure aloft to swim, Whilst that Ocean overswelleth.
1719 E. Young Busiris iv. 45 Redundant Nile, Broke from its Channel, overswells the Pass.
1721 E. Young Revenge ii. i. 26 Now my Sorrows, long with Pain supprest, Burst their Confinement with impetuous Sway, O'er-swell all Bounds.
1743 D. Mallet Poems on Several Occasions 255 Their shores..O'erswelling mound and cliff.
1827 C. M. Sedgwick Hope Leslie II. vii. 143 In wrath that overswelled all limits, he turned upon poor Barnaby.
1846 E. A. Poe J. W. Francis in Wks. (1864) III. 40 A natural..flow of talk always overswelling its boundaries.
1849 W. G. Simms Father Abbot xvi. 222 Their harvests over swell The sower's hopes: their trees o'erladen, scarce Their fruit sustain.
1992 J. Dickey Coll. Poems 144 I think Of the Coosa, out of a clear blue sky Overswelling its banks.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2004; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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v.?1555