Etymologically
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overrun

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Pronunciation

  • UK: /ˌəʊ.vəˈɹʌn/, /ˈəʊ.vəˌɹʌn/[1]
  • US: /ˌoʊ.vɚˈɹʌn/, /ˈoʊ.vɚˌɹʌn/[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English overrennen, also overrinnen,[2][3] inherited from Old English oferyrnan (“to run across, pass over”),[2][3][4][5] formed from Old English ofer (“over”) + yrnan (“to run”).[3] Clark Hall glosses the Old English verb as to run over, overrun, cover over, overwhelm, and run past.[6] The OED treats it as formed from over- and run, and compares Middle High German überrinnen, Danish overrinde and, for the sense of riding over a country, Middle Dutch overrinnen and überrennen.[7] The noun is formed from the prefix and the noun run in the OED,[7] and is probably from the verb in the Shorter Oxford.[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

To run over or across a region, to pass over it quickly: Old English, in Ælfric's De Temporibus Anni.[7] Also in Old English, a liquid was said to flow over and cover something, and the verb was used figuratively for overpowering an enemy.[7][6]

Semantic evolution

Several Old English and Middle English senses have died out: to run through a text or survey a subject (Old English to 1656), to trample or run down (to the 17th century), and, of time, to run out (before 1393 to 1526).[7][8] Etymonline dates the sense "continue beyond a specified time" to the early 14th century.[2] The military sense, to ride over a country with an armed force and ravage it, appears before 1425 in Castleford's Chronicle,[7][8] and Etymonline dates "to ravage, plunder" to the mid-14th century.[2] Johnson (1755) gave it first, quoting Spenser on the barbarous nations that "over-ran the world".[9] Of plants and animals spreading over land, the verb is recorded from about 1440;[7] Etymonline dates its use of weeds to the 1660s.[2] The sense of running faster than, outrunning, is recorded from before 1425, and is now used mainly in mechanics of parts that turn faster than others.[7][8] The noun, recorded once before 1250 in the Ancrene Riwle for excellence in running, was formed anew in the late 19th century:[7][8] in printing, the carrying over of type to another line or page (1898), an excess of production (1905), an excess of spending over the budget (1956), and in technical uses for the extra stretch of runway or track beyond a stopping point (1912), the increase in volume of ice cream when it is whipped (1922), and the loss of data in computing (1971).[7] Etymonline also dates the budget sense to 1956.[2] In dialect, in Shetland it was used of animals multiplying too greatly, in north Lincolnshire of an illness getting beyond control, and in Cheshire for running away from something or leaving work unfinished.[10]

Timeline

  • Old English – to run over or across; of a liquid, to flow over; to overpower.[7]
  • before 1250 – noun, speed or excellence in running (obsolete).[7][8]
  • early 14th century – to continue beyond a set time.[2]
  • before 1393 – of time, to run out (obsolete by 1526).[7]
  • before 1425 – to overrun a country with an armed force; to outrun.[7]
  • c. 1440 – of plants and animals, to spread over, infest.[7]
  • before 1450 – to overflow.[7]
  • 1898 – noun, printing, the carrying over of type to another line or page.[7][3]
  • 1905 – noun, an excess of production.[7]
  • 1912 – noun, an extra stretch of runway or track.[7]
  • 1922 – noun, the increase in volume of ice cream by aeration.[7]
  • 1956 – noun, an excess of spending over the budget.[7][2]
  • 1971 – noun, computing, a loss of data.[7]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To defeat an enemy completely and occupy its positions: The outpost was overrun at dawn.[11][3][7]
  2. To invade and ravage a country.[3][7][9]
  3. To spread or swarm over; to infest: The cellar was overrun with mice.[11][3][8]
  4. To go beyond a limit, especially a set time or budget: The meeting overran by an hour.[11][8]
  5. To flow over; to overflow.[11][8][7]
  6. To run faster than; to outrun; in mechanics, to turn faster than.[8][7]
  7. Of an engine, to run with the throttle closed at a speed set by the moving vehicle.[11]
  8. (printing) To print more copies than ordered; to carry type over to another line or page.[11]
  9. (obsolete) To run through or survey a text or subject.[7][8]
  10. (obsolete) To run down; to trample.[3][8]

Noun

  1. An amount by which something goes beyond an estimate, especially of cost: a cost overrun.[3][7]
  2. An act of overrunning, or the amount by which something overruns.[3][8]
  3. A quantity produced or printed beyond what was ordered.[3][7]
  4. An extra stretch of runway, track or road for vehicles that go past their stopping point.[7][8]
  5. The increase in volume of ice cream by aeration, or in weight when butterfat is made into butter.[7][8][3]
  6. The movement of a vehicle faster than its engine is driving it.[7][8]
  7. (computing) The loss of data sent faster than the receiving device can process it.[7]

Word family

  • cost overrun

References

  1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  4. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  5. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
  6. ^ a b 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 30 31 32 33 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  8. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  9. ^ a b Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
  10. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)
  11. ^ a b c d e f Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins