overdrive

American  

[oh-ver-drahyv, oh-ver-drahyv] / ˌoʊ vərˈdraɪv, ˈoʊ vərˌdraɪv /

verb (used with object)

overdrove, overdriven, overdriving

1. to push or carry to excess; overwork.

2. to drive too hard.

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noun

1. Machinery, Automotive. a device containing a gear set at such ratio and arrangement as to provide a drive shaft speed greater than the engine crankshaft speed.

2. Also called hyperdrive. Informal. a state of intense activity or productivity.

   The political campaign has shifted into overdrive.

overdrive British  

noun

1. a very high gear in a motor vehicle used at high speeds to reduce wear and save fuel

2. in a state of intense activity

3. into a state of intense activity

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verb

1. (tr) to drive too hard or too far; overwork or overuse

Etymology

Origin of overdrive

First recorded before 950; Middle English overdriven “to cover over, overpower”; Old English oferdrīfan “to drive away, overthrow”; equivalent to over- ( def. ) + drive ( def. )

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

overdrive overdriven overdriving

"Our study suggests that's not necessarily a broken pattern-separation system, but possibly an overactive version of a normal survival mechanism gone into overdrive," said Brandon.

From Science Daily ● Nov. 3, 2026

Homebuilders say even given some relief from litigation, they aren’t sure Proposition 37 would push construction into overdrive.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 24, 2026

You can see something similar in the body politic, when the sudden appearance of something new and confusing kicks societal defenses into overdrive.

From Salon ● Sep. 11, 2026

Things came to a head on tour, where her stage fright went into overdrive and she suffered "just terrible, terrible anxiety".

From BBC ● Sep. 6, 2026

“When your brain is in overdrive it can make your body feel tired, react differently, even make you physically ill.”

From "Boy 2.0" by Tracey Baptiste

The enveloping roar of distorted guitars and overdriven amps.

From Washington Post ● Oct. 27, 2021

Musselwhite’s tones range from Little Walter-like overdriven vamps to a caressing contribution reminiscent of Larry Adler on the excellent album-ending ballad “Nothing at All.”

From Washington Times ● Mar. 29, 2018

The song starts as choppy, programmed, trap-flavored R&B, but segues into fusion rock with overdriven keyboards and distorted lead guitar.

From New York Times ● Apr. 7, 2017

Where King Midas is carefully scrubbed of bright tones, Bug's "Sleng Teng" is all overdriven oranges and yellows.

From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 26, 2015

The work was genuine work, and we were not overdriven.

From "The Left Hand of Darkness" by Ursula K. Le Guin

I’ve been amplifying the ukulele through a pick-up and then overdriving it in a really great tube amp, so the texture became not the stereotypical strum of the ukulele.

From New York Times ● Apr. 17, 2011

Others were designed to destroy the hard disk by directly overdriving the disk or would cause amonitor to self-destruct.

From Terminal Compromise: computer terrorism: when privacy and freedom are the victims: a novel by Winn Schwartau

The Clinton tried with me, and I had to keep my esper carefully aimed at the road ahead because I was definitely overdriving my eyesight and reaction-time.

From Highways in Hiding by George Oliver Smith

Did you never think of it,—men are cheap, and machinery is dear; many a superintendent is dismissed for overdriving a delicate machine, who wouldn't be dismissed for overdriving an overtaxed man.

From The New Freedom A Call For the Emancipation of the Generous Energies of a People by Woodrow Wilson

To diminish the inducement for overdriving, the method of paying the overseers by crop shares, which commonly prevailed in the colonial period, was generally replaced in the nineteenth century by that of fixed salaries.

From American Negro Slavery A Survey of the Supply, Employment and Control of Negro Labor as Determined by the Plantation Regime by Ulrich Bonnell Phillips

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