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Overwhelm   /ˌoʊvərwˈɛlm/  /ˌoʊvərhwˈɛlm/   Listen
verb
Overwhelm  v. t.  (past & past part. overwhelmed; pres. part. overwhelming)  
1.
To cover over completely, as by a great wave; to overflow and bury beneath; to ingulf; hence, figuratively, to immerse and bear down; to overpower; to crush; to bury; to oppress, etc., overpoweringly. "The sea overwhelmed their enemies." "Fearfulness and trembling are come upon me, and horror hath overwhelmed me." "Foul deeds will rise, Though all the earth o'erwhelm them." "Gaza yet stands; but all her sons are fallen, All in a moment overwhelmed and fallen."
2.
To project or impend over threateningly. "His louering brows o'erwhelming his fair sight."
3.
To cause to surround, to cover.



noun
Overwhelm  n.  The act of overwhelming. (R.)






Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48








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"Overwhelm" Quotes from Famous Books



... thanked, they and their schemes are vanished, and "their places shall know them no more." When I think of that inundation of atheism, infidelity, profaneness and licentiousness which were like to overwhelm us, from what mouths and hearts it first proceeded, and how the people joined with the Queen's endeavours to divert this flood, I cannot but reflect on that remarkable passage in the Revelation,[9] where "the serpent with seven heads cast out of his mouth ...
— The Prose Works of Jonathan Swift, D. D., Volume IX; • Jonathan Swift

... followed during the next few days. But the patrol was not withdrawn; nor was war declared. The Earth Council knew that Tarrano had not ordered the model back—nor would he destroy it. Yet if the Earth forces were to overwhelm Tarrano, and the model were lost, a revolution upon Earth could easily take place before Georg could convince the people that he was able to ...
— Tarrano the Conqueror • Raymond King Cummings

... doubt. Do not be in the least uneasy on my account. If the present is cold and bare and poverty-stricken, the blue distant future is rich and splendid; most great men have known the vicissitudes which depress but cannot overwhelm me. ...
— Lost Illusions • Honore De Balzac

... peoples, one in language, in blood, in heroic early traditions, and the common heirs of the grandest literature the world has ever seen, yet severed by a deep, wide, angry-flowing stream of strife, which, dammed up for a time, was about to burst forth in a desolating flood that should overwhelm and destroy some of the fairest fruits of civilization in both countries. As he gazed northward, he beheld, on the eastern bank of the river, the snowy walls and grass-grown ramparts of Fort Niagara, above which floated ...
— Neville Trueman the Pioneer Preacher • William Henry Withrow

... on the square. And if we were to shoot or cut down Miranda, he not resisting, that would be a scandal I might have difficulty in suppressing. It would spread surely, go over the country, get to the ears of the Central Government, and return to New Mexico with a weight that might overwhelm me. Besides, amigo mio, it would spoil my plan in several respects—notably, that with the nina and others too numerous to mention. Of course, we'll kill him if we can, with fair pretext for doing so. But unless he show fight, we must take him alive, his guests ...
— The Lone Ranche • Captain Mayne Reid


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