OVERWHELM • E-FREE TRANSLATION.COM • Definition of Overwhelm

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/ˌoʊvərwˈɛlm/ /ˌoʊvərhwˈɛlm/ Listen

verb

Overwhelm v. t. (past & past part. overwhelmed; pres. part. overwhelming)

To cover over completely, as by a great wave; to overflow and bury beneath; to ingulf; hence, figuratively, to immerse and bear down; to overpower; to crush; to bury; to oppress, etc., overpoweringly. "The sea overwhelmed their enemies." "Fearfulness and trembling are come upon me, and horror hath overwhelmed me." "Foul deeds will rise, Though all the earth o'erwhelm them." "Gaza yet stands; but all her sons are fallen, All in a moment overwhelmed and fallen."

To project or impend over threateningly. "His louering brows o'erwhelming his fair sight."

To cause to surround, to cover.

noun

Overwhelm n. The act of overwhelming. (R.)

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Etymology of 'Overwhelm'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Overwhelm" Quotes from Famous Books

... exceedingly anxious to pose as the conqueror of France. To strengthen his dynasty, the Kaiser was also anxious that his son should take a prominent part. Accordingly it was planned to gather an enormous army under his command, overwhelm Verdun and smash through to Paris. Thus Prince Wilhelm would be enrolled among the great commanders of history. Von Hindenburg was opposed to this plan, he wanted to finish up his work so happily begun in Russia. But the Crown Prince had his way; and immense supplies of guns, ...

— Kelly Miller's History of the World War for Human Rights • Kelly Miller

... Leonard coldly, "but please understand that we are still surrounded by many dangers, which any treachery might cause to overwhelm us. Therefore I warn you that should I detect anything of the sort my answer to it will be ...

— The People Of The Mist • H. Rider Haggard

... relaxed morality as can well be imagined.-. 'tis a large quarto, and in general a very superficial one. His philosophy may be new in France, but is greatly exhausted here. He tries to imitate Montesquieu, and has heaped commonplaces upon commonplaces, which supply or overwhelm his reasoning; yet he has often wit, happy allusion;, and sometimes writes finely: there is merit enough to give an obscure man fame; flimsiness enough to depreciate a great man. After his book was licensed, they forced him to retract it by a ...

— The Letters of Horace Walpole, Volume 2 • Horace Walpole

... and the Marguerites no doubt. Do not be in the least uneasy on my account. If the present is cold and bare and poverty-stricken, the blue distant future is rich and splendid; most great men have known the vicissitudes which depress but cannot overwhelm me. ...

— A Distinguished Provincial at Paris • Honore de Balzac

... spectacle was to see him in the drawing-room, 'dancing,' as Danjou said, 'before the Ark.' He stretched and bent his unwieldy person in all directions. He would challenge to a philosophic duel the young critic, a confirmed pessimist of three-and-twenty, and overwhelm him with his own imperturbable optimism. Laniboire the philosopher had one particular reason for this good opinion of the world; his wife had died of diphtheria caught from nursing their children; both his children had died with their mother; and each time that he repeated ...

— The Immortal - Or, One Of The "Forty." (L'immortel) - 1877 • Alphonse Daudet

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