Overgrow
[əʊvə'grəʊ] or ['ovɚ,gro]
Definition
(verb.) grow beyond or across; 'The ivy overgrew the patio'.
(verb.) become overgrown; 'The patio overgrew with ivy'.
(verb.) grow too large.
Typed by Lesley--From WordNet
Definition
(v. t.) To grow over; to cover with growth or herbage, esp. that which is rank.
(v. t.) To grow beyond; to rise above; hence, to overcome; to oppress.
(v. i.) To grow beyond the fit or natural size; as, a huge, overgrown ox.
Checker: Stella
Definition
v.t. to grow beyond: to rise above: to cover with growth.—v.i. to grow beyond the proper size.—adj. Overgrown′ grown beyond the natural size.—n. O′vergrowth.
Edited by Hattie
Examples
- There were villas with iron fences and big overgrown gardens and ditches with water flowing and green vegetable gardens with dust on the leaves. Ernest Hemingway. A Farewell To Arms.
- A field overgrown with briars and brambles, may frequently produce as great a quantity of vegetables as the best cultivated vineyard or corn field. Adam Smith. An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations.
- It is hard to be laughed at in my moments of sentiment, as if my soul was like myself, old and overgrown. Wilkie Collins. The Woman in White.
- Overgrown with heth and mosse, says Leland of the same dark sweep of country. Thomas Hardy. The Return of the Native.
- Trabb's boy--Trabb's overgrown young man now--went before us with a lantern, which was the light I had seen come in at the door. Charles Dickens. Great Expectations.
- There were two small islands overgrown with bushes and a few trees, towards the middle. D. H. Lawrence. Women in Love .
- Time, however, overgrew this softness with the rough bark of manhood, and but few knew how living and fresh it still lay at the core. Harriet Beecher Stowe. Uncle Tom's Cabin.
- It showed no variation but of tint: green, where rush and moss overgrew the marshes; black, where the dry soil bore only heath. Charlotte Bronte. Jane Eyre.
Editor: Whitney