Definition of "overrun"

overrun

/ˌəʊ.vəˈɹʌn/

verb
third-person singular simple present overruns, present participle overrunning, simple past overran, past participle overrun
1. (transitive) To defeat an enemy and invade in great numbers, seizing the enemy positions conclusively.
2. (transitive) To infest, swarm over, flow over.
  Quotations
  those barbarous nations that over-ran the world
  1596 (date written; published 1633), Edmund Spenser, A Vewe of the Present State of Irelande […], Dublin: […] Societie of Stationers, […]; republished as A View of the State of Ireland […] (Ancient Irish Histories), Dublin: […] Society of Stationers, […] Hibernia Press, […] [b]y John Morrison, 1809,
  As President Obama turns his attention once again to filling out a cabinet and writing an Inaugural Address, this much is clear: he should not expect to bask in a surge of national unity, or to witness a crowd of millions overrun the Mall just to say they were there.
  2012 November 7, Matt Bai, “Winning a Second Term, Obama Will Confront Familiar Headwinds”, in New York Times‎
3. (transitive) To run past; to run beyond.
  Quotations
  Ahimaaz ran by the way of the plain, and overran Cushi.
  1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], 2 Samuel 18:23
  The collision occurred when an up empty electric train travelling on the up main through line overran the inner home signal and rammed the side of the departing 6.14 p.m. Waterloo-Weymouth steam train, which was leaving platform 12 for the down main through line.
  1961 March, “Talking of trains”, in Trains Illustrated, page 138
  1. (transitive) To run past the end of.
4. (intransitive) To continue for too long.
5. (printing) To carry (some type, a line or column, etc.) backward or forward into an adjacent line or page.
6. (transitive) To go beyond; to extend in part beyond.
7. (transitive) To abuse or oppress, as if by treading upon.
  Quotations
  None of them the feeble overren.
  1596, Edmund Spenser, “Book V, Canto II”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, stanza 9
noun
countable and uncountable, plural overruns
1. An instance of overrunning.
  Quotations
  Some of the stadiums being built for the World Cup soccer tournament, scheduled for next year, have also been criticized for delays and cost overruns, and have become subjects of derision as protesters question whether they will become white elephants.
  2013 June 18, Simon Romero, “Protests Widen as Brazilians Chide Leaders”, in New York Times‎
  Tesla’s first decade was plagued by unmet deadlines, technical snafus and cost overruns.
  December 13 2021, Molly Ball, Jeffrey Kluger, Alejandro de la Garza, “Elon Musk: Person of the Year 2021”, in Time Magazine‎
2. The amount by which something overruns.
3. (aviation) An area of terrain beyond the end of a runway that is kept flat and unobstructed to allow an aircraft that runs off the end of the runway to stop safely.
4. (food) Air that is whipped into a frozen dessert to make it easier to serve and eat.
  Quotations
  If ice cream has too much overrun, it will be airy and foamy and will lack flavor.
  2004, Wayne Gisslen, Professional Baking, page 497

Definition of "overrun"

overrun

verb

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noun

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