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Overbear   Listen
verb
Overbear  v. t.  (past overbore; past part. overborne; pres. part. overbearing)  
1.
To bear down or carry down, as by excess of weight, power, force, etc.; to overcome; to suppress. "The point of reputation, when the news first came of the battle lost, did overbear the reason of war." "Overborne with weight the Cyprians fell." "They are not so ready to overbear the adversary who goes out of his own country to meet them."
2.
To domineer over; to overcome by insolence.






Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48








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"Overbear" Quotes from Famous Books



... have had him and others further punished, had it not been for the protection given them by private citizens at New York, in opposition to the government, who, by their impudent falsehoods and calumnies, were able to overbear the minds of the jurors. Be assured, Sir, that no motive could induce me, at this time, to make this declaration so gratuitously, were it not founded in sacred truth: and I will add further, that I never did, or countenanced, in public ...
— Memoir, Correspondence, And Miscellanies, From The Papers Of Thomas Jefferson - Volume I • Thomas Jefferson

... scared out of his wits by ghosts, for, unlike Coleridge, he believed in them although he thought he had seen many. Whether truth came from the scaffold or the throne, the seance or the sky, it did not alter the truth, and did not prejudice or overbear his judgment. He shed his early materialism (which temporarily took possession of him as it did of many others as a result of the shock following the overwhelming discoveries of that period) when ...
— Alfred Russel Wallace: Letters and Reminiscences Vol 2 (of 2) • James Marchant

... if by y^e forementioned means they cannot be strengthened to cary & overbear things, it will be best for them to plant els wher by them selves; and would have it artickled by them that they might make choyse of any place that they liked best within 3. or 4. myls distance, shewing ther were farr better places for plantation ...
— Bradford's History of 'Plimoth Plantation' • William Bradford

... become aware of a sound in the very air. It is not the midsummer hum which will soon be heard over the heated hay in the valley and over the cooler hills alike. It is not enough to be called a hum, and does but just tremble at the extreme edge of hearing. If the branches wave and rustle they overbear it; the buzz of a passing bee is so much louder it overcomes all of it that is in the whole field. I cannot, define it, except by calling the hours of winter to mind—they are silent; you hear a branch crack or creak as it rubs another ...
— The Life of the Fields • Richard Jefferies

... self-conceited and pragmatical, thinking that they know everything about how a library should be managed, when in fact, they are profoundly ignorant of the first rudiments of library science. Such men will sometimes overbear their fellows, who may be more intelligent, but not so self-asserting, and so manage as to overrule the best and wisest plans, or the most expedient methods, and vex the very soul of the librarian. In such cases the only remedy is patience and tact. Some day, what has ...
— A Book for All Readers • Ainsworth Rand Spofford

... one self-sufficing work is the Bible. Being the sole and ultimate authority of Christian doctrine, it holds a position entirely apart; and, among Protestants at least, there is a becoming jealousy of allowing any extraneous writing to overbear its contents. Yet we are not to infer, as many have done practically, that no other work needs to be read in company with it. Granting that its genuine doctrines have been overlaid by subsequent accretions, the way to ...
— Practical Essays • Alexander Bain

... my realm Can ransom him! ah, he is mark'd to die! I know the malice of the younger Mortimer; Warwick I know is rough, and Lancaster Inexorable; and I shall never see My lovely Pierce of Gaveston again: The barons overbear with me their pride. Y. Spen. Were I King Edward, England's sovereign, Son to the lovely Eleanor of Spain, Great Edward Longshanks' issue, would I bear These braves, this rage, and suffer uncontroll'd These barons thus to beard me in my land, In mine own realm? ...
— Edward II. - Marlowe's Plays • Christopher Marlowe

... joy, and doubtful if this could be real, loudly called for his attendants, who rejoiced at the sound of their beloved king's voice; and he said to Helicanus: 'O Helicanus, strike me, give me a gash, put me to present pain, lest this great sea of joys rushing upon me, overbear the shores of my mortality. O, come hither, thou that west born at sea, buried at Tarsus, and found at sea again. O Helicanus, down on your knees, thank the holy gods! This is Marina. Now blessings on thee, my child! Give me fresh garments, mine own Helicanus! She ...
— Tales from Shakespeare • Charles and Mary Lamb

... and probe, Gehazi, As thou of all canst try The truthful, well-weighed answer That tells the blacker lie: The loud, uneasy virtue, The anger feigned at will, To overbear a witness And make the court ...
— Gilbert Keith Chesterton • Maisie Ward

... monarch mounts his throne on high, And after him the queen and Emily: Next these, the kindred of the crown are graced With nearer seats, and lords by ladies placed. Scarce were they seated, when with clamours loud 550 In rush'd at once a rude promiscuous crowd; The guards, and then each other overbear, And in a moment throng the spacious theatre. Now changed the jarring noise to whispers low, As winds forsaking seas more softly blow; When at the western gate, on which the car Is placed aloft, that bears the god of war, Proud Arcite entering arm'd ...
— The Poetical Works of John Dryden, Vol II - With Life, Critical Dissertation, and Explanatory Notes • John Dryden



Words linked to "Overbear" :   dominate, bear, press, contract, squeeze, bear down, compact, turn out



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