OVERDRIVE • E-FREE TRANSLATION.COM • Definition of Overdrive

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/ˈoʊvərdrˌaɪv/ Listen

noun

overdrive n.

(Machinery) A gearing device which causes the drive shaft of an automobile or other machine to rotate at a speed greater than that of the engine crankshaft.

(Automotive) The gear setting of a motor vehicle at which the overdrive (1) is operative; as, cruising at 80 mph in overdrive.

Hence: (fig.) A state of unusually intense activity; as, when they got their new supercomputer, their research kicked into overdrive; one look at her made his heart jump into overdrive; used mostly of the activities of persons or groups.

verb

Overdrive v. t. & v. i. (past overdrove; past part. overdriven; pres. part. overdriving) To drive too hard, or far, or beyond strength.

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Etymology of 'Overdrive'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Overdrive" Quotes from Famous Books

... his sheaves, flinging a word of encouragement now to one, now to the other, shouting at Ben as he turned the corners, and by every means possible keeping the excitement at the highest point. But he was careful not to overdrive his men. By a previous arrangement and without serious difficulty he had persuaded Teenie Ross, who had come to assist the Morrison girls at the threshing, to bring out a lunch to the field at ten o'clock. For half an hour they sat in the long grass in the shade of a maple tree eating the ...

— The Doctor - A Tale Of The Rockies • Ralph Connor

... message-torp. It wasn't to be expected. It came in on a course that extended backward to somewhere near the Rift—where there used to be Huks—and for a very, very long way it had traveled as only message-torps do travel. It hopped half a light-year in overdrive, and came back to normality long enough for its photocells to inspect the star-filled universe all about. Then it hopped another half light-year, and so on. For a long, long time it traveled in ...

— A Matter of Importance • William Fitzgerald Jenkins

... institutions of so-called Christian nations and in the churches are destined to drop away, as the principles of Christianity become more clearly discerned and more honestly applied to social and national life. But the good shepherd does not overdrive his flock, but, like Jacob, 'leads on softly, according to the pace of the cattle that is before' him. We must be content to bring the world gradually to the Christian ideal. To abolish or to impose institutions or ...

— Expositions Of Holy Scripture - Volume I: St. Luke, Chaps. I to XII • Alexander Maclaren

... have come a tremendous way—a most awful long way—in an uncommon short time. A fellow don't think o' that when he's mounted, ye see. There now," he added, resuming his own seat in the saddle, "off we go. But there's no need to overdrive the cattle; we'll be there in good time, I warrant ye, for the nags ...

— The Prairie Chief • R.M. Ballantyne

... efficiently strapped into his acceleration cradle, and then the ship leaped skyward. It climbed rapidly, broke free of Earth's grasp, and, out past the moon, abruptly winked out of normal space into overdrive. It would spend the next two weeks in hyperspace, short-cutting across the galaxy ...

— The Judas Valley • Gerald Vance