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definitions

overhung

[verb oh-ver-huhng; adjective oh-ver-huhng]
verb
  1. simple past tense and past participle of overhang.
adjective
  1. hung or suspended from above: an overhung door.

Origin of overhung

First recorded in 1700–10; over- + hung

overhang

[verb oh-ver-hang; noun oh-ver-hang]
verb (used with object), o·ver·hung, o·ver·hang·ing.
  1. to hang or be suspended over: A great chandelier overhung the ballroom.
  2. to extend, project, or jut over: A wide balcony overhangs the garden.
  3. to impend over or threaten, as danger or evil; loom over: The threat of war overhung Europe.
  4. to spread throughout; permeate; pervade: the melancholy that overhung the proceedings.
  5. 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.
  1. to hang over; project or jut out over something below: How far does the balcony overhang?
noun
  1. something that extends or juts out over; projection.
  2. the extent of projection, as of the bow of a ship.
  3. Informal. an excess or surplus: an overhang of office space in midtown.
  4. a threat or menace: to face the overhang of foreign reprisals.
  5. 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. 2018

Related Words for overhung

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

Examples from the Web for overhung

Historical Examples of overhung

  • They had almost reached the belt of trees that overhung the road.

  • Away to the left the water widened out, and was overhung by a haze of heat.

  • A moment later and he entered the bush that fringed the path and overhung it.

    The Fugitives

    R.M. Ballantyne

  • The forehead, which overhung his small, keen eyes, was large and wrinkled.

    A Dog with a Bad Name

    Talbot Baines Reed

  • On the opposite side, the end of a rail projected and overhung.

British Dictionary definitions for overhung

overhang

verb (ˌəʊvəˈhæŋ) -hangs, -hanging or -hung
  1. to project or extend beyond (a surface, building, etc)
  2. (tr) to hang or be suspended over
  3. (tr) to menace, threaten, or dominate
noun (ˈəʊvəˌhæŋ)
  1. 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
  2. the amount or extent of projection
  3. aeronautics
    1. half the difference in span of the main supporting surfaces of a biplane or other multiplane
    2. the distance from the outer supporting strut of a wing to the wing tip
  4. 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 overhung

overhang

v.

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

overhang

n.

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

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper