overween

verb

Etymology

From Middle English overwēnen (“to be presumptuous, be over-confident; presume”), from Old English oferwennan and oferwenian (“to be proud, become insolent, or presumptuous”), equivalent to over- + ween.

  1. inherited from oferwennan
  2. inherited from overwenen

Definitions

  1. To think too highly or arrogantly of (oneself).

    • and they that overween, / And at thy growing virtues fret their spleen,
    • The clouds on Futurity Day bore out in a general way this prognostication. But he overweened himself.
  2. To make or render arrogant and overweening.

    • There is, I suppose, the cheap drama of man sticking his nose into an area where it does little good except to expand his already overweened vanity.
    • Sometimes we manage to come up with original ways of viewing a world hardened, stratified, overweened by its own power, a world which believes itself as omnipotent as its technological achievements might seem to imply.
  3. To overwhelm.

    • The invasion of a vast enemy host upon the unprepared is unstoppable; the huge phalanx of tanks overweens our small army of trucks and rifles; […]

The neighborhood

Vish — recursive loop

No curated loop yet for overween. 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