overbow

Verb (1)

overbow (third-person singular simple present overbows, present participle overbowing, simple past and past participle overbowed)

1. (poetic, transitive) To arch over.
   • Now her white lips would kiss away the gore— Speed, Alice, speed, or thou Wilt have but my dead frame to overbow!1856, Thomas Leigh, Garlands of Verse, page 51
   • Like one who climbs a mountain's mighty stairs, and finds himself at length with nothing but the immeasurable sky above him, so from generalization to generalization he ascends, to find himself at length alone with the Alone, embraced and overbowed with nothing but the infinite of God.1887 June, John W. Chadwick, “The Revelation of God”, in Joseph Henry Allen, editor, The Unitarian Review, volume 27, number 6, page 491
2. (transitive) To bow or bend (something) over beyond its natural trajectory; to bend in a contrary direction.
   • True it is, becauſe moſt in that age ranne riot in adoring of Churches […] the Waldenſes (out of that old errour not yet worn out, That the beſt way to ſtraighten what is crooked, is to over-bow it) denied Churches that relative holineſſe and fit reverence due unto them.1639, Thomas Fuller, “The Albingenses Their Answer, Confessing Some, Denying Most Crimes Laid to Their Charge; Commendations Their Adversaries Give Them”, in The Historie of the Holy Warre...
   • The amount by which the plate is overbowed must correspond to the thickness of the mandible.1994, Norman Lester Rowe, John Llewellyn Williams, Rowe and Williams' Maxillofacial Injuries, page 370
3. (intransitive) To bend too far.
   • A thicker back will bend less, and be less prone to overbow and the resultant cracking.1986, Folk Harp Journal - Issues 52-55, page 22
4. (transitive) To overburden.
   • Now the next thing that I have to remind thee of is this, that thou take care of thyself: first of thy mind, that thou do not overbow it; and that thou take care of thy body, that thou do not overwork thyself: it will be enough that thou see the work done.1849, William Ellis, James Backhouse, The Life and Correspondence of William and Alice Ellis, page 11
   • 'Tis true: yet stronger is the power divine, And oft, when man's estate is overbowed With bitter pangs, disperses from his eyne The heavy, hanging cloud!1908, Aeschylus, “The Seven Against Thebes”, in Four Plays of Aeschylus, Translated into English Verse by E.D.A. Morshead, M.A., page 123
5. (transitive) To provide (an archer) with a bow that requires more strength than the archer can fully draw.
   • Another characteristic of an "overbowed" archer can readily be observed by watching the alignment of his back while he is shooting.1963, Arnold Otto Haugen, Harland G. Metcalf, Field Archery and Bowhunting, page 12
   • I know you've heard it before, but no advice on bow selection or shooting would be complete without saying it: Don't “overbow” yourself! Start with a light- to moderate-weight bow and work up if you feel the need to be shooting something heavier.2016, Ron Rohrbaugh Jr, A Traditional Bowhunter's Path, page 23
6. (intransitive) To use a bow that requires more strength than the archer can fully draw.
   • The tendency of all archers is to overbow.1940, Ye Sylvan Archer - Volumes 12-15, page 4
   • The most important rule for anyone thinking of making a bow is not to overbow or underbow. The bow at full draw should be just at the limit of the shooter's strength.2011, Erik Roth, With a Bended Bow: Archery in Mediaeval and Renaissance Europe
7. To use too much pressure when playing a stringed instrument using a bow.
   • The VPO seems so caught up with Bernstein's febrile vision that it overblows and overbows and overbangs frequently.1992, American Record Guide - Volume 55, Issues 1-3, page 95
   • String players should have an unobstructed two meters above them so that they can hear a strong 4th harmonic and not overbow.2001, Journal of the Audio Engineering Society - Volume 49, page 60

Noun

IPA/ˈəʊvə(ɹ)ˌbəʊ/

overbow (plural overbows)

1. A structural piece that arches over another piece.
   • The overbow formers are then lowered out of the net contour, exposing fixed net contour ( inner mold line ) formers.1976, “Age-Forming Aluminum Panels”, in NASA Tech Briefs

Adjective

IPA/ˌəʊvə(ɹ)ˈbaʊ/

overbow (not comparable)

1. Extending beyond the bow (front of a ship)
   • It has a lifting capacity of 2000 short tons with fixed boom in overbow position.1977, Australasian Oil and Gas Journal - Volume 23, page 18
   • MIBSPA claims that every type of offshore system can utilise the MIB coupling including submerged and floating hoses, overbow and integration into a specific manufacturer's system.1978, Offshore Services - Volume 11, page 41

Verb (2)

IPA/ˌəʊvə(ɹ)ˈbaʊ/

overbow (third-person singular simple present overbows, present participle overbowing, simple past and past participle overbowed)

1. (transitive) To show excessive deference toward by too much bowing.
   • Russian officers, especially titled ones, and their families, are naturally exempt from such ignominious treatment, and Alain's small party—all excepting Lustrac, of course, who had at once to go and interview the highest authorities present, so as to spare the touch of ill-bred fingers to Sacha's...1910, Marguerite Cunliffe-Owen, Snow-fire: A Story of the Russian Court, page 313