overbowing

Verb

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
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...
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
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
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

See all 10 meanings of overbow