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overmaster

[oh-ver-mas-ter, -mah-ster]
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verb (used with object)

to gain mastery over; conquer; overpower: The sudden impulse had quite overmastered me.

RELATED WORDS

subdue, rout, crush, quell, overthrow, surmount, vanquish, subjugate, control, lick, thwart, reduce, total, prevail, zap, cream, circumvent, overpower, outwit, master

Origin of overmaster

Middle English word dating back to 1300–50; see origin at over-, master
Related formso·ver·mas·ter·ing·ly, adverb
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for overmaster

Contemporary Examples of overmaster

Historical Examples of overmaster

  • The backward drag rapidly decreased as the pull of Saturn and his system began to overmaster that of Jupiter.

    A Honeymoon in Space

    George Griffith

  • These two elements coxisted from early times, and caused perpetual ferment by their struggles to overmaster each other.

    The Cradle of the Christ

    Octavius Brooks Frothingham

  • "He has fainted," said Tom, not allowing the worse fear to overmaster him.

    We Two

    Edna Lyall

  • It had begun so delicately; it became in a little while so determined, it threatened to overmaster him.

    The Wave

    Algernon Blackwood

  • Again he sought to take her, to hold her and overmaster her.

    The Air Trust

    George Allan England

British Dictionary definitions for overmaster

overmaster

verb

(tr) to overpower
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 overmaster
v.

mid-14c., from over- + master (v.). Related: Overmastered; overmastering.

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper