overhear
verb/oʊ.vɚˈhɪɚ/US
Etymology
From Middle English overheren, from Old English oferhīeran (“to overhear, hear, disobey, disregard, neglect”), equivalent to over- + hear. Cognate with Dutch overhoren (“to hear, hear about”), German überhören (“to not hear, ignore”), Danish overhøre (“to overhear”), Icelandic yfirheyra (“to hear”), Gothic *𐌿𐍆𐌰𐍂𐌷𐌰𐌿𐍃𐌾𐌰𐌽 (*ufarhausjan, “to disregard, disobey”) (in 𐌿𐍆𐌰𐍂𐌷𐌰𐌿𐍃𐌴𐌹𐌽𐍃 (ufarhauseins)).
- inherited from overheren
Definitions
To hear something that was not meant for one's ears.
- I was hanging clothes in the garden and I overheard the neighbours talking about Sheila's pregnancy.
- "It is incomprehensible," replied Sir Fergus, dropping his voice so that the old man could not overhear.
The neighborhood
Vish — recursive loop
No curated loop yet for overhear. Loops are being traced one word at a time while the ingestion pipeline matures.
sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA