Overtake
[əʊvə'teɪk] or [,ovɚ'tek]
Definition
(verb.) catch up with and possibly overtake; 'The Rolls Royce caught us near the exit ramp'.
Typist: Rudy--From WordNet
Definition
(v. t.) To come up with in a course, pursuit, progress, or motion; to catch up with.
(v. t.) To come upon from behind; to discover; to surprise; to capture; to overcome.
(v. t.) Hence, figuratively, in the past participle (overtaken), drunken.
Checker: Susie
Synonyms and Synonymous
v. a. Catch, come up with.
Edited by Babbage
Definition
v.t. to come up with: to catch: to come upon: to take by surprise.—p.adj. Overtā′ken fuddled.
Edited by Jessica
Examples
- You may run on, Fanny, he said to the housemaid; we shall overtake you. Charlotte Bronte. Shirley.
- Come, he added, jump into my car, we must overtake your father, they are only a little way ahead. Edgar Rice Burroughs. Tarzan of the Apes.
- Before I could overtake him he had sprung to the rail and hurled himself headforemost into the awful depths below. Edgar Rice Burroughs. The Gods of Mars.
- Overtake him; bring him back instantly! Charles Dickens. The Pickwick Papers.
- The torpedo boat destroyer is a larger and swifter boat, whose special duty it is to overtake and destroy this dangerous little fighter. Edward W. Byrn. The Progress of Invention in the Nineteenth Century.
- Because, from his bedroom window, he saw the flight of the boy, because he wished to overtake him and bring him back. Arthur Conan Doyle. The Return of Sherlock Holmes.
- I walked on so fast that even he could hardly have overtaken me had he tried. Charlotte Bronte. Jane Eyre.
- He had remained on that three-foot path, with sheer wall on one side and sheer drop on the other, until his enemy had overtaken him. Arthur Conan Doyle. The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes.
- She had wintered at Davos Platz, and was journeying now to join her friends at Lucerne, when a sudden hemorrhage had overtaken her. Arthur Conan Doyle. The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes.
- He was vigorously pursued, and was overtaken at Cassville on the 19th, but during the ensuing night retreated across the Etowah. Ulysses S. Grant. Personal Memoirs of U. S. Grant.
- Then, having left the door open behind him, he was leading the horse away over the moor, when he was either met or overtaken by the trainer. Arthur Conan Doyle. The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes.
- Guardian, said I, do you remember, when we were overtaken by the thunder-storm, Lady Dedlock's speaking to you of her sister? Charles Dickens. Bleak House.
- But before extinction overtook them, even the Neanderthalers learnt much and went far. H. G. Wells. The Outline of History_Being a Plain History of Life and Mankind.
- He overtook them too late. Charlotte Bronte. Villette.
- The engaging young Barnacle was the first arrival; but Bar overtook him on the staircase. Charles Dickens. Little Dorrit.
- I--I knew nothing of that; I was going to inquire the truth of the story when you overtook me. Charles Dickens. Oliver Twist.
- The horsemen, therefore, soon overtook them on the road. Walter Scott. Ivanhoe.
- I rapidly overtook it, and then, keeping at a discreet distance of a hundred yards or so, I followed its lights until we were clear of the town. Arthur Conan Doyle. The Return of Sherlock Holmes.
- We have been very happy, John Carter, she said, and I thank whatever fate overtakes us that it permits us to die together. Edgar Rice Burroughs. A Princess of Mars.
- When death overtakes me my heart shall have ceased to beat; but what comes after that I know not. Edgar Rice Burroughs. The Gods of Mars.
Editor: Thea