overwear

American  

[oh-ver-wair] / ˌoʊ vərˈwɛər /

verb (used with object)

overwore, overworn, overwearing

1. to use or wear excessively; wear out; exhaust; tax.

   needlessly overwearing her best workers; phrases overworn by repetition.

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Etymology

Origin of overwear

First recorded in 1570–80; over- + wear

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

overwear overworn

He lumbered between courtrooms with his cane and black leather bag, in a black suit he insisted on always wearing until he was acquitted, the jacket shiny in places from overwear.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 29, 2021

We were thin, with faces burned, withered, frozen and torn in fissures, with clothes ugly from overwear.

From My Attainment of the Pole by Cook, Frederick A.

I have also with him leggings of heavier cloth for overwear.

From The first New Testament printed in English by

Where lines like “don’t give up; don’t stop believing; keep the faith” can transform from overworn platitudes into a chant of quiet confidence and inflate the listener’s heart like the Grinch on Christmas.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 18, 2025

But for British dramas fictional cops cannot get away from the cheaper and often overworn suits favoured by their non-fictional contemporaries.

From The Guardian ● Jun. 8, 2013

If the strings of my poor little lyre were not rusty and overworn, I think I should try to sing some of my nonsense verses before his image, and add to the idolatry already existing.

From Yesterdays with Authors by Fields, James T.

I watched thee when the fever glazed thine eyes, Yielding my couch and stretched me on the ground, When overworn with watching, ne'er to rise From thence if thou an early grave hadst found.

From The Works of Lord Byron, Vol. 7. Poetry by Coleridge, Ernest Hartley

Gerarde, in describing such hues in flowers, was fond of the word "overworn"; and it was a very good word, and, like the one now in use, is derived from the association.

From Birds and Man by Hudson, W. H. (William Henry)