overtask

Operation comes to overtask us, either through the admixture of useless matters, or through the multiplicity of instruments, or through the bulk of the material and of the bodies that may happen to be required for any particular work.

The New Organon 2005

Though such an important chief, he is the meanest dressed of his subjects, — is always filthy, — ever greasy — eternally foul about the mouth; but these are mere eccentricities: as a wise judge, he is without parallel, always has a dodge ever ready for the abstraction of cloth from the spiritless Arab merchants, who trade with Unyanyembe every year; and disposes with ease of a judicial case which would overtask ordinary men.

How I Found Livingstone Henry Morton 2004

In the latter years of his life he was known to overtask himself; and at length the body gave way, though the mind remained firm to the last.

Doctor Thorne 2004

But do not overtask your health, Makar Alexievitch.

Poor Folk 2003

Those laws do not permit him to kill, to maim, or to punish beyond certain limits, or to overtask, or to refuse to feed and clothe his slave.

Cotton is King, and Pro-Slavery Arguments Comprising the Writings of Hammond, Harper, Christy, Stringfellow, Hodge, Bledsoe, and Cartrwright on This Important Subject E. N. [Editor] Elliott

His physical organization was delicate, but he had an energy of spirit which led him often to overtask his bodily forces in long-continued mental exertions.

The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 08, No. 49, November, 1861 Various

You see, sir, it don't do to overtask a willing beast, nor to load a cart with more goods than it's meant to carry, specially if it ain't over strong.

True to his Colours The Life that Wears Best Theodore P. Wilson

But the attempt to resist that bias will overtask the strength of most individuals.

Hygienic Physiology : with Special Reference to the Use of Alcoholic Drinks and Narcotics Joel Dorman Steele

Yet for this purpose, it must not be too long continued, nor of too severe strength, lest it overtask and irritate the nerve-sheaths.

A Newly Discovered System of Electrical Medication Daniel Clark

"I do not, God knows! wish you to overtask yourself," wrote the unhappy Woodfall; "but after what you last said, I thought I might fully calculate on your taking up, without further delay, the fragmentary portions of your 1st and 2nd volumes and let us get them out of hand."

The Life of George Borrow Jenkins, Herbert 1912