overforward

Adjective

overforward (comparative more overforward, superlative most overforward)

1. Too bold; too quick to act and/or too emphatic of expression.
   • And tho' a Man may have been often mis-us'd upon this account, there are still some People so modest, and will esteem so well of a kind Offer, that 'twill be frequently a Man's Duty to run the Hazard of his Service being slighted, rather than not profer his Assistance to a poor honest Man, that has...1710, Samuel Palmer, Moral Essays on Some of the Most Curious and Significant English, Scotch, and Foreign Proverbs, page 119
   • And, in like manner, I have never yielded to those who set themselves up rashly to sit in judgment, as for the most part overforward to determine the nature. of the malady while ignorant of its root.1858, Letters of John Calvin, page 95
2. (attitude, or trait) Arrived at too quickly or expressed too openly.
   • Nay, till my second Thoughts check'd the overforward Impetuosity of my first, I was about to add, Since God resents an infinite satisfaction in the Accomplishment of his own Will, your Making over your whole Will to God, will impart to you that Felicity, proportioned to the degree of the Resignment.1700, Robert Boyle, Some Motives and Incentives to the Love of God, page 32
   • I do not deny that some have displayed an overforward hostility to that system.1844, Richard Mant, A Churchman's Apology, page 4
3. (occurrence, or development) Premature.
   • I the rather say this to you, as you seem, in your last, to condemn ( which I am much pleased with ) the hasty and overforward prescriptions of beginners.1831, Robert Hawker, Works - Volume 1, page 7
   • This was not a childish or an overforward choice in him , but doubtless was from a serious consideration , as seeing him who is invisible ; for we are expressly told , that ' When he was full forty years old, it came into his heart to visit his brethren, the children of Israel.'1854, William Evans, Thomas Evans, Piety Promoted, page 13
4. Incautious.
   • What ? do the Bishops fit to govern the Church ? undoubtedly He did not , nor do any of them : and had not his fear pull'd him by the sleeve , and given a check to his overforward Tongue, no doubt but he would have produced all the strong Reasons of the Cabal for the proving of the Negative.1678, John Nalson, The Countermine, page 159
   • We had a glorious day together in his mother's garden; never before did such magnificent volcanoes break forth out of mole-hills, or were plots of daisies and violets so ruthlessly scorcehed and torn by the explosion of deep-laid mines; and though a few mishaps did happen to overforward fingers...1856, Hugh Miller, An Autobiography, page 88