overdrives

Noun

overdrive (countable and uncountable, plural overdrives)

1. (dated) A gear, on an automobile, higher than the traditional top gear, mainly to allow better fuel economy at highway speeds. In the 21st century, such gears are no longer viewed as "extra" and thus rarely called by this name.
   • Near-synonym: top gear

   Synonyms:

   OD, O/D, O.D., top gear

2. (figuratively, uncountable) A state of heightened activity.
   • overdrive pacing

   Synonyms:

   top gear, full throttle

   Antonyms:

   low gear

3. (euphemistic, slang) Freewheeling (driving a vehicle with the transmission in neutral) on downhill stretches to achieve higher fuel economy and/or speed than otherwise. In colloquial registers, ethnically bigoted variants have been common, such as Jewish overdrive (alluding to the stereotype of miserly Jews) or Mexican overdrive or Polish overdrive (alluding to stereotypes of foolishness and poverty).
   • Of course overdrive is forbidden for dump trucks in the quarry because it is unsafe, but unscrupulous workers were found to be using it because of a perverse incentive involving tonnage piece rates.
4. A gear ratio higher than 1:1: one in which a single revolution of the driving element corresponds to more than one revolution of the driven element.

See all 5 meanings of overdrive