overdone

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English overdon,^[2] inherited from Old English oferdōn (“done to excess”),^[3][4][5] the past participle of the Old English verb that became overdo.^[4][5] That verb is formed from ofer (“over”) and dōn (“to do”),^[4][3] and is matched by Old High German ubartuon (“to do to excess”), Middle High German übertuon and German übertun.^[5][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Carried to excess, too much: in Old English, in Ælfric's Lives of Saints,^[5][3] which renders the Latin saying omnia nimia nocent as Ealle oferdóne þing dæriaþ, all overdone things do harm.^[6]

Semantic evolution

The participle has meant "excessive, exaggerated" since Old English.^[5][3] Early Middle English used it in the phrase at overdone, to excess, in the Ormulum (about 1175),^[5] and as an adverb, excessively, from about 1390 to 1500.^[5][7] The sense "cooked too much", of meat and the like, is from the 1680s in Etymonline,^[3] and the Historical Thesaurus places it in 1781.^[7] Merriam-Webster also records "exhausted, worn out", as in Dorothy Sayers's looking a bit overdone.^[4][8]

Timeline

• Old English – carried to excess, immoderate.^[5][3]
• c. 1175 – at overdone, to excess, in the Ormulum (obsolete).^[5]
• c. 1390 – adverb, excessively (obsolete by 1500).^[5][7]
• 1680s – of meat, cooked too much.^[3] The Historical Thesaurus dates this sense to 1781.^[7]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Done or carried too far; exaggerated or excessive: The actor's grief in the last scene felt overdone.^[4][9][5]
2. Cooked for too long: an overdone chop.^[9][4][5]
3. Worn out or exhausted.^[4][8]

Related words

• overdo
• done
• overdue

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
3. ^ a b c d e f g h Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d e f g Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement
7. ^ a b c d Kay, Christian; Roberts, Jane; Samuels, Michael; Wotherspoon, Irené, eds. (2009), Historical Thesaurus of the Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford: Oxford University Press; online edition (2024)
8. ^ a b Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
9. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins