overtopplev.
/ˌəʊvəˈtɒpl/, U.S. /ˌoʊvərˈtɑp(ə)l/ 1. transitive. To cause to topple over; to overturn (a thing, esp. something unstable). Now chiefly figurative.
ΘΚΠ
the world > movement > motion in a certain direction > downward motion > causing to come or go down > cause to come or go down [verb (transitive)] > bring to the ground/lay low > topple
overtopple1543
topple1598
top1662
1543 T. Becon New Yeares Gyfte sig. K.iii This one texte..is able to subuerte, ouertople, and throwe downe all the byldynge.
1803 T. Holcroft Hear both Sides ii. 19 Tiles clattering, walls tottering..steeples overtoppled, thunderbolts, conflagrations, whirlwinds, earthquakes, pestilence, war, famine.
1898 Atlantic Monthly Mar. 294/1 Against this dominating common sense allegory rises in vain; passion cannot overtopple it.
1907 Westm. Gaz. 9 Nov. 6/1 Not the uncalled-for coping that threatens to over-topple the whole fabric, but the crowning touch, the apex of the pyramid.
1955 Amer. Polit. Sci. Rev. 49 1105 Well-established ‘facts’, scholars know, are sometimes overtoppled by research.
1994 Guardian (Nexis) 5 Feb. 28 We circle round creative genius like hicks visiting a freak show. And this..has spawned an industry of literary biography which threatens to overtopple fiction itself.
2. intransitive. To topple over. Also: to overhang as if on the point of toppling over.
ΘΚΠ
the world > space > relative position > high position > overhanging > overhang [verb (intransitive)]
hangOE
to hang outc1400
stoop1422
overhang1567
overreach1610
beetlea1616
shelvea1616
oversail1674
impend1780
deject1825
whave1847
overtopple1855
the world > movement > motion in a certain direction > downward motion > falling > fall [verb (intransitive)] > topple over
welt13..
tiltc1390
overfalla1400
waltc1400
tirvec1425
top over tervea1450
overtumble1487
overwelta1522
to fall over1541
top1545
topple1600
tramble1609
tope1796
tottle1830
overtopple1855
whemmel1895
pitch-pole1896
1855 P. J. Bailey Mystic 70 Higher than lark can soar, or falcon fly..Lamalmon's pass, O'ertoppling.
a1861 A. H. Clough Lett. & Remains (1865) 41 And vanity o'ertoppling fell.
1885 R. W. Buchanan Earthquake in Compl. Poet. Wks. (1901) 39 Moving northward in procession in their snowy shrouds of Death, Rise the bergs, now overtoppling like great fountains in the air.
1988 Jrnl. Trop. Ecol. 4 14 The principal cause of tree-fall appeared to be senescence, or overtoppling because the tree had become too large to be supported by the substrate.
1998 Newsday (N.Y.) (Nexis) 3 May b9 The great belly moved, step following step with great finesse lest it overtopple.
Derivatives
overˈtoppling adj.
ΘΚΠ
the world > movement > motion in a certain direction > downward motion > falling > [adjective] > toppling over
overtoppling1860
1860 T. Martin tr. Horace Odes 218 Black Eurus, snap each rope and oar With the o'ertoppling surge!
1876 C. M. Yonge Womankind xxviii. 242 The already overtoppling mass of froth of feminine silliness.
1999 N.Y. Rev. Bks. 4 Mar. 6/1 Driven out of Italy in 1910 by overtoppling debts, he became a literary lion in Paris.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2004; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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