overlash
English
Etymology
From over- + lash. Compare dialectal English lash (“extravagant”), lashing (“lavish”).
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /əʊvə(ɹ)ˈlæʃ/
- Rhymes: -æʃ
Verb
overlash (third-person singular simple present overlashes, present participle overlashing, simple past and past participle overlashed)
- To physically tie additional wires or cables to those that are already attached to a utility pole, accommodating any additional strands of fiber or coaxial cable on existing pole attachments
- (obsolete) (Can we verify(+) this sense?) To carry to excess.
- (obsolete) to overlash in phrases ― to exaggerate
- (obsolete, by extension) To exaggerate.
- a. 1678 (date written), Isaac Barrow, “(please specify the chapter name or sermon number). A Treatise of the Pope's Supremacy”, in The Works of Dr. Isaac Barrow. […], volume (please specify |volume=I to VII), London: A[braham] J[ohn] Valpy, […], published 1830–1831, →OCLC:
- it being well known , that they in their encomiastic speeches , as orators are wont , following the heat and gaiety of fancy , do sometimes overlash
Trivia
Though only durably attested once, the term was reported to have had a technical equestrian meaning in Devonshire at least, that of pushing a horse hard enough that its rear feet would strike its front feet in the gallop.[1]
References
- “overlash”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
- ^ F. T. Elworthy (editor) in his role as Secretary (April 1892) “Thirteenth Report of the Committee on Devonshire Verbal Provincialisms”, in W. Harpley, editor, Report and Transactions of the Devonshire Association for the Advancement of Science, Literature, and Art, volume XXV, published July 1893, page 198: “The well-known technical use above means therefore "to heap up," or overdo the step of the horse's hind leg, by which he strikes the fore foot in the way commonly known as overlashing.”