overhang

[verb oh-ver-hang; noun oh-ver-hang]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR overhang ON THESAURUS.COM

verb (used with object), o·ver·hung, o·ver·hang·ing.

to hang or be suspended over: A great chandelier overhung the ballroom.

to extend, project, or jut over: A wide balcony overhangs the garden.

to impend over or threaten, as danger or evil; loom over: The threat of war overhung Europe.

to spread throughout; permeate; pervade: the melancholy that overhung the proceedings.

Informal. to hover over, as a threat or menace: Unemployment continues to overhang the economic recovery.

verb (used without object), o·ver·hung, o·ver·hang·ing.

to hang over; project or jut out over something below: How far does the balcony overhang?

noun

something that extends or juts out over; projection.

the extent of projection, as of the bow of a ship.

Informal. an excess or surplus: an overhang of office space in midtown.

a threat or menace: to face the overhang of foreign reprisals.

Architecture. a projecting upper part of a building, as a roof or balcony.

Origin of overhang

First recorded in 1590–1600; over- + hang

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for overhang

loom, extend, impend, portend, project, poke, command, jut, endanger, protrude, menace, pouch, threaten, overtop, beetle

Examples from the Web for overhang

Contemporary Examples of overhang

Hamstrung by the lower standards of the boom years, it reported that it was still coping with the overhang of the bubble.
Freddie Mac’s Profits Obscure Housing-Boom Damage
Daniel Gross
March 3, 2013
Roll out the remaining dough to cover the top of the dish with some overhang.
Fresh Picks
Scott Conant
April 28, 2011

Historical Examples of overhang

It was the overhang of the river, and when I dropped through I found myself in the water.
The Law-Breakers
Ridgwell Cullum
Always have I known that this danger must overhang you as a penalty for loving me.
The Historical Nights' Entertainment
Rafael Sabatini
The tool may overhang the lens by a quarter of the diameter of the latter as a maximum.
On Laboratory Arts
Richard Threlfall
You will note that the sides of the top or seat have an overhang of ½ inch on each margin.
Carpentry for Boys
J. S. Zerbe
The men have not since ventured under the overhang of the poop.
The Mutiny of the Elsinore
Jack London

British Dictionary definitions for overhang

overhang

verb (ˌəʊvəˈhæŋ) -hangs, -hanging or -hung

to project or extend beyond (a surface, building, etc)

(tr) to hang or be suspended over

(tr) to menace, threaten, or dominate

noun (ˈəʊvəˌhæŋ)

a formation, object, part of a structure, etc, that extends beyond or hangs over something, such as an outcrop of rock overhanging a mountain face

the amount or extent of projection

aeronautics

half the difference in span of the main supporting surfaces of a biplane or other multiplane
the distance from the outer supporting strut of a wing to the wing tip

finance the shares, collectively, that the underwriters have to buy when a new issue has not been fully taken up by the market

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for overhang

1590s, from over- + hang (v.). Related: Overhung; overhanging.

"fact of overhanging," 1864, from overhang (v.).