Etymologically
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overflow

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Pronunciation

  • UK: /ˈəʊvəfləʊ/[1]
  • US: /ˈoʊvɚfloʊ/[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English overflouen,[2][3] inherited from Old English oferflōwan (“to flow over, flood, inundate”),[4][3][5][2] formed from ofer (“over”) and flōwan (“to flow”),[4][6] that is, over- and flow.[7][3] Etymonline calls it common Germanic, citing Old High German ubarfliozan and German überfließen;[3] the OED compares Middle Dutch overvloeyen, Dutch overvloeien and Middle Low German ȫvervloyen.[7] The noun is from the verb.[7][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Of water, to spread over and flood land: the Old English translation of Orosius tells of a river that flooded the land to the depth of a foot.[7][5] Old English also used it of a vessel too full to hold its contents, in King Alfred's translation of Gregory's Pastoral Care,[7][5] and of a full measure running over, in the West Saxon Gospels (Luke 6:38).[7][5]

Semantic evolution

Already in Old English the verb was used figuratively, of something spreading so as to fill or overwhelm, and of qualities or feelings that pass all limits.[7] About 1175 tears were said to overflow the face,[7] and since the early 16th century, in Gavin Douglas, people could overflow with feelings.[7] The past participle was formerly overflown, now archaic.[8][9] The noun appears in 1589, in Robert Greene and Thomas Nashe, both for a flood and for an excess or surplus;[7][3] Merriam-Webster dates it to 1568.[4] Later uses added an outlet for surplus water (1837), the excess people or things that a space cannot hold, as in overflow meeting, the running-on of a line of verse (1885), and in computing a number too large for its assigned place (1950).[7][9] In Canada overflow is also water forced up through cracks onto frozen ice (1896).[7]

Timeline

  • Old English – oferflōwan, to flood; to run over the brim.[7][5]
  • c. 1175 – of tears, to flow over the face.[7]
  • before 1522 – of people, to be full of a feeling.[7]
  • 1568 – noun, first known use in Merriam-Webster.[4]
  • 1589 – noun, a flood; a surplus, in Greene and Nashe.[7]
  • 1837 – noun, an overflow pipe.[7]
  • 1846 – to fill a space and spread beyond it, in Dickens.[7]
  • 1885 – noun, in prosody, run-on lines.[7]
  • 1950 – noun, in computing.[7]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To flow over the brim, banks or limits of something: The river overflowed after a week of rain.[8][4][7]
  2. To be so full that the contents spill over; to be filled beyond capacity: The sink overflowed onto the kitchen floor.[8][4][7]
  3. To be full of a feeling or quality: Her letter overflowed with gratitude.[8][7]
  4. To cover with water; to flood or inundate.[8][4][7]
  5. To spread beyond the limits of a space that is full: The crowd overflowed into the street.[4][7]

Noun

  1. Matter, especially liquid, that flows over; a flowing over.[8][4][7]
  2. An outlet or pipe that carries off surplus liquid.[8][7]
  3. An excess or surplus, especially of people or things that a place cannot hold: an overflow of applications.[4][7]
  4. In computing, a result with more digits than the space assigned to it.[7][9]

Adjective

  1. Forming or holding an overflow: an overflow car park.[4]

Word family

  • overflowable
  • overflowingly
  • underflow
  • flow
  • over-
  • overflowing

References

  1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
  3. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  5. ^ a b c d e Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement
  6. ^ Clark Hall, J. R. (1960), A Concise Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, 4th ed., with a supplement by H. D. Meritt, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z 27 28 29 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  8. ^ a b c d e f g Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
  9. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press