Etymologically
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overthrow

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 26 October 2026 at 02:26. This address is a permanent link to this version.
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Pronunciation

  • UK: /əʊvəˈθɹəʊ/, /ˈəʊvəθɹəʊ/[1]
  • US: /ˌoʊvɚˈθɹoʊ/, /ˈoʊvɚˌθɹoʊ/[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English overthrouen, formed from Middle English over- + throuen (“to throw”), the ancestors of over- and throw.[2][3][4][5] Earlier, the same senses were expressed by overwerpen, from Old English oferweorpan (“to overthrow, throw down”), related to warp.[4][6] The noun was formed from the verb in the 15th century; the cricket noun, a throw that passes beyond the wicket, was formed afresh in the 18th century from over- and the noun throw.[3][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

To knock or throw to the ground, overturn: about 1330, in Arthour and Merlin.[3] Etymonline dates ouerthrouen to about 1300.[4]

Semantic evolution

The figurative sense, to cast a person down from power or prosperity, to defeat or ruin, appears in Chaucer's Monk's Tale about 1375,[3][4] and Chaucer's Troilus has it of overturning plans or intentions.[3] Gower used the verb 47 times.[7] The sense "to bring down or end a government by force" is recorded from 1567.[3] From about 1330 to 1609 the verb could also mean to fall down or to prostrate oneself.[3] The noun, defeat, ruin, deposition, is first found about 1440, in Scrope's translation of Christine de Pisan's Epistle of Othea,[3][4] and to give someone the overthrow, to defeat them, was used from 1536 to 1616.[3] Johnson (1755) gave the noun the senses "the state of being turned upside down", "ruin; destruction" and "defeat; discomfiture".[8] In sport, an overthrow was a fielder's return that passes the wicket in cricket from 1748 and a throw past the baseman in baseball from 1856, and the verb has meant to throw a ball too far since 1833.[3] In architecture an overthrow is a decorated wrought-iron panel over a gateway (1911).[3] In Middlesex a harvest-home rhyme used overthrowed of an upset load.[9]

Timeline

  • c. 1300 – ouerthrouen, to knock down, cast headlong.[4]
  • c. 1330 – to knock to the ground, overturn.[3]
  • c. 1375 – to cast down from power, defeat, in Chaucer.[3][4]
  • c. 1440 – noun, overthrowing, defeat, ruin.[3]
  • 1567 – to bring down a government by force.[3]
  • 1748 – in cricket, a return beyond the wicket.[3]
  • 1833 – verb, to throw a ball too far.[3]
  • 1856 – in baseball, a throw past the baseman.[3]
  • 1911 – in architecture, a wrought-iron panel over a gateway.[3]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To remove from power by force; depose: The army overthrew the president in a coup.[10][11][3]
  2. To defeat, ruin or put an end to something, such as a belief or an institution.[11][3]
  3. (now rare) To knock or turn over; overturn.[10][11][3]
  4. To throw a ball too far or past its target.[10][3]

Noun

  1. The act of overthrowing, or the state of being overthrown; downfall or defeat: the overthrow of the old regime.[10][11][3]
  2. In cricket, a fielder's return that passes beyond the wicket, or a run scored from it.[10][11][3]
  3. In baseball, a throw that passes beyond the baseman it was aimed at.[11][3]
  4. In architecture, a decorated panel of wrought iron over a gateway or arch.[3]

Word family

  • overthrower

References

  1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ 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 g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z 27 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  4. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  5. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  6. ^ Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement
  7. ^ Benson, Larry D., Glossarial Concordance to Middle English (Chaucer, Gower), Johns Hopkins University, github.com/jhu-digital-manuscripts/gcme
  8. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
  9. ^ 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)
  10. ^ a b c d e Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
  11. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster