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overweight

[adjective oh-ver-weyt; noun oh-ver-weyt; verb oh-ver-weyt]
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adjective
  1. weighing too much or more than is considered normal, proper, etc.: overweight luggage; an overweight patient; two letters that may be overweight.
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noun
  1. extra or excess weight above what law or regulation allows, as of baggage or freight: The overweight will cost us $12.
  2. weight in excess of that considered normal, proper, healthful, etc.: Overweight in a child should not be neglected.
  3. greater effect or importance; preponderance.
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verb (used with object)
  1. to weight excessively; exceed the weight limit of.
  2. to give too much consideration or emphasis to; stress unduly.
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Origin of overweight

First recorded in 1545–55; over- + weight
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for overweight

Contemporary Examples

Historical Examples

  • You overweight your boy going off and he will be handicapped out of the race, too.

    Sonnie-Boy's People

    James B. Connolly

  • Almost instantly the overweight one was behind him, seizing his arm.

    The Memory of Mars

    Raymond F. Jones

  • We must not overweight the Bill, said the Prime Minister at length.

    Lord Randolph Churchill

    Winston Spencer Churchill

  • It looked tired as from the carrying of an overweight of suspicion.

    Selina

    George Madden Martin

  • They could as easily have charged you overweight as underweight.

    Uncle Sam Detective

    William Atherton Du Puy

British Dictionary definitions for overweight

overweight

adjective (ˌəʊvəˈweɪt)
  1. weighing more than is usual, allowed, or healthy
  2. finance
    1. having a higher proportion of one's investments in a particular sector of the market than the size of that sector relative to the total market would suggest: portfolio managers are currently overweight in bonds
    2. (of a fund etc) invested disproportionately in this way
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noun (ˈəʊvəˌweɪt)
  1. extra or excess weight
  2. archaic greater importance or effect
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verb (ˌəʊvəˈweɪt) (tr)
  1. to give too much emphasis or consideration to
  2. to add too much weight to
  3. to weigh down
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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 overweight

adj.

"in excess of proper or ordinary weight," 1630s, from over- + weight (n.). Of persons, as a noun, "obesity" from 1917.

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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper