overpeer

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English

Etymology

From over- +‎ peer.

Pronunciation

Verb

overpeer (third-person singular simple present overpeers, present participle overpeering, simple past and past participle overpeered)

  1. To peer over; to overlook.
    • 1591 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The First Part of Henry the Sixt”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies  (First Folio), London: Isaac Iaggard, and Ed Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, :
      the English, in the suburbs close intrench’d,
      Wont, through a secret grate of iron bars
      In yonder tower, to overpeer the city,
      And thence discover how with most advantage
      They may vex us with shot, or with assault.
    • 1906, Arthur Quiller-Couch (under the pseudonym “Q”), The Mayor of Troy, London: Methuen, Chapter 1, p. 16,
      In Admirals’ Row Miss Sally Tregentil would overpeer her blind and draw back in a flutter lest the Major had observed her.
  2. (figuratively) To rise above.
    • c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies  (First Folio), London: Isaac Iaggard, and Ed Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, :
      The ocean, overpeering of his list,
      Eats not the flats with more impetuous haste
      Than Young Laertes, in a riotous head,
      O’erbears Your offices.
    • 1896, Charles G. D. Roberts, The Forge in the Forest, Boston: Lamson, Wolffe & Co., Part I, Foreward, p. 12,
      These patches are but meagre second growth, with here and there a gnarled birch or overpeering pine, lonely survivor of the primeval brotherhood.

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