overhang

Etymology

It is formed from English over- + hang,^{[2][3][4][5][6]} a compound found in Old English, where Bosworth–Toller has oferhōn, to hang with something so as to cover an object.^[7] The OED thinks it fell out of use at the end of the Old English period and was formed afresh in the 16th century, comparing the phrase hang over,^[2] though the Middle English Dictionary has one record of Middle English overhongen.^[8] The OED also compares Middle Dutch overhangen, now Dutch overhangen, Middle Low German ȫverhangen and German überhängen.^[2] The noun comes from the verb,^[3][6] though the OED analyses the noun as over- and the noun hang, after the verb or the phrase.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

To hang over or be suspended above something: Old English, in Ælfric's Catholic Homilies.^[2] Bosworth–Toller quotes a homily in which a mountain's peak is mid þeósterlicum genipum eal oferhangen.^[7] Merriam-Webster Unabridged accordingly gives "before 12th century".^[4] After the gap, the Shorter Oxford dates the verb to late Middle English, the Middle English record being about 1395,^[6][8] and the OED's next record is from 1567, in Golding's Ovid.^[2]

Semantic evolution

The physical sense, to jut out or hang above, has stayed central.^[2][4] From something above that seems about to fall came the figurative "to loom over, threaten", from the 1590s in Etymonline, 1607 in the OED.^[3][2] The noun arrived only in the 1850s, as a nautical word for the part of a bow or stern beyond the waterline,^[2][4] and spread to any projecting part from 1860.^[2] Etymonline's dates for the noun are later, 1864 for a projecting part and 1883 for the fact of overhanging.^[3] Economics has its own use: the verb in 1902, of a factor affecting a market unfavourably, and the noun in 1922, for a surplus that may harm it.^[2] Sound engineering added a further sense in 1971, a loudspeaker's continued oscillation after the signal stops.^[2][6]

Timeline

• Old English – verb, to hang over, be suspended above something.^[2][7]
• c. 1395 – Middle English overhongen, to hang over.^[8]
• 1567 – verb, intransitive, to project or jut out above.^[2]
• 1607 – verb, figurative, to loom over, threaten.^[2] Etymonline has the 1590s.^[3]
• 1834 – verb, to cover or adorn with hangings (rare), in Carlyle.^[2]
• 1853 – noun, the projection of a ship at bow or stern beyond the waterline.^[2][4]
• 1860 – noun, the fact of overhanging; an overhanging part.^[2] Etymonline has 1864 for the part.^[3]
• 1902 – verb, in economics, to affect a market unfavourably.^[2]
• 1915 – noun, the part of an armature winding beyond the core; the part of an aircraft wing beyond its support.^[2]
• 1922 – noun, in economics, an excess likely to have an undesirable effect.^[2]
• 1937 – noun, the distance of a stylus point beyond the centre of a turntable.^[2]
• 1971 – noun, the continued oscillation of a loudspeaker after a signal stops.^[2]

Meanings

Verb

1. To hang or project over something; to jut out above: Old willows overhang the towpath.^[9][4][2]
2. Intransitive: to project beyond the base or edge.^[4][2][9]
3. To loom over; to threaten: The fear of layoffs overhung the whole town.^[9][4][2]
4. To suspend, as a door, from above.^[4][2]
5. In economics, to affect a market or economy unfavourably.^[2]

Noun

1. Something that projects over or beyond what is below, such as a rock outcrop or the upper storey or roof of a building: They sheltered from the rain under a limestone overhang.^[9][4][2]
2. The amount by which something projects.^[9][2][6]
3. The part of a ship's bow or stern that projects beyond the waterline.^[4][2][6]
4. In aeronautics, the part of a wing beyond its outermost support, or beyond the tip of an adjacent wing.^[9][2][6]
5. In economics, an excess, as of spending over funds, or a quantity of securities or goods large enough to depress prices if offered for sale.^[2][6]
6. In sound reproduction, the continued oscillation of a system, especially a loudspeaker, after the signal stops.^[2][6]

Related words

• hang
• hangover

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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 30 31 32 33 34 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
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. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b c Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement
8. ^ a b c 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)
9. ^ a b c d e f Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins