overtaken

• IPA^(key): /ˈəʊvəɹteɪkən/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -eɪkən

overtaken

1. past participle of overtake

overtaken (comparative more overtaken, superlative most overtaken)

1. Taken by surprise; overcome.

   I was overtaken by events.

2. (archaic) drunk; intoxicated
   • 1863, Sheridan Le Fanu, The House by the Churchyard:

     Indeed, he was 'dithguthted' at his condition; and if upon the occasion just described he had allowed himself to be somewhat 'intoxicated with liquor,' I must aver that I do not recollect another instance in which this worthy little gentleman suffered himself to be similarly overtaken. Now and then a little 'flashy' he might be, but nothing more serious—and rely upon it, this was no common virtue in those days.

   • 1902, John Buchan, The Outgoing of the Tide:

     Once John, being overtaken in drink on the roadside by the cottage, and dreaming that he was burning in hell, awoke and saw the old wife hobbling toward him. Thereupon he fled soberly to the hills, and from that day became a quiet-living, humble-minded Christian.

• See Thesaurus:drunk

• taken over