Definitions
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun The leading idea or a repeated phrase, as of a song or ballad; the refrain; burden.
- To express in too many words: sometimes used reflexively.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- transitive verb To say in too many words; to express verbosely.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun Any
word orphrase frequently repeated. - noun The
burden orchorus of asong . - verb To say in too many words; to express
verbosely .
Etymologies
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
Support
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Examples
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You find that love is not sporadic, not individual, that it does not begin with you or end with you, that it does not dissociate you, and you do not warm to the world-organic kinship, you do not hear the overword of the poets and philosophers of all times, you do not see the visions that gladdened the star-forgotten nights of saints?
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The psalm of dedication was sung -- of which the overword is, "Lo, children are God's heritage," and the conclusion the verse which no Scot forgets the world over, perhaps because it contains, quite unintentionally, so delightful a revelation of his own national character --
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So the guests were led to table, and the feast began, within the hall and without it, and wide about the plain; and the Dayling maidens went in bands trimly decked out throughout all the host and served the warriors with meat and drink, and sang the overword to their lays, and smote the harp, and drew the bow over the fiddle till it laughed and wailed and chuckled, and were blithe and merry with all, and great was the glee on the eve of battle.
The House of the Wolfings William Morris 1865
qms commented on the word overword
It's true (or has been so averred
In whispers and hints overheard):
The insolent spammer
Will feel Erin's hammer.
Revenge is the new overword.
May 23, 2015