Pronunciations (8)
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/ˈəʊ̯.və/
Pronunciation notes
- Received-Pronunciation
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/ˈaʊæː/
Pronunciation notes
- Northumbria
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/ˈoː.və/
Pronunciation notes
- Wales
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/ˈəʉ̯.və/
Pronunciation notes
- Australia
-
/ˈɐʉ̯.və/
Pronunciation notes
- New-Zealand
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/ˈoʊ̯.vɚ/
Pronunciation notes
- Canadian
- General-American
- Standard
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[ˈoːvɚ]
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/ˈo.vəɾ/
Pronunciation notes
- Scotland
Adjective
Finished; ended; concluded.
Usage- not-comparable
- Examples
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The show isn't over until the fat lady sings.
The strawberries are over now. I picked the last few yesterday.
Finished; ended; concluded. Of a flower: wilting or withering.
Usage- not-comparable
Hopeless; irrecoverable.
Usage- Informal
- not-comparable
- of an ongoing situation
- Examples
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We're keeping our marriage going for the sake of the kids, but really it's over.
Visiting one's home or other location.
Usage- Informal
- not-comparable
- Examples
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My sister's over for the week.
Having surmounted an obstacle.
Usage- not-comparable
- Examples
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The horse struggled at that fence, but it's over.
Having an excess in a particular respect.
Usage- Informal
- not-comparable
- Examples
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This steak is well over. (overcooked)
We had some complaints about short weight, so now we make sure that all our bags of potatoes are a bit over. (overweight)
Surplus to requirements.
Usage- not-comparable
- Examples
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I made 20 cakes, but I only need 18, so there are two over.
Of a wrestler: generating a reaction from fans.
Usage- not-comparable
- Slang
Adverb
Describing a physical change of position or state. From one position or location to another, horizontally or approximately so, or along a route visualised as "across".
Usage- not-comparable
- Examples
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That vase isn't exactly central. Could you move it over a couple of inches?
I slid over to make room for him to sit down.
More examples (4)
Please pass the chocolates over to me.
"Come over to my house and play!" — "Sure, I'll bring over a pizza."
He's driven over from Bristol.
In the future, when space travel is affordable to everyone, we'll be able to pop over to the Moon for a weekend.
Describing a physical change of position or state. Across from one side of something to the other.
Usage- not-comparable
- Examples
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I need to cross the river. Can you take me over in your boat?
Describing a physical change of position or state. So as to pass above.
Usage- not-comparable
- Examples
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I looked up just as a helicopter flew over.
Describing a physical change of position or state. Up one side of something, across, and then down the other side.
Usage- not-comparable
- Examples
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The fence is too high. I don't think I'll be able to get over.
The boiling milk bubbled over onto the cooker top.
Describing a physical change of position or state. Across something, such as an edge, and then downwards.
Usage- not-comparable
- Examples
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The car rolled to the edge of the cliff and went straight over.
Describing a physical change of position or state. From an upright position to a horizontal one.
Usage- not-comparable
- Examples
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He tipped the bottle over, and the water came gushing out.
That building just fell over!
Describing a physical change of position or state. So as to fold towards or onto itself.
Usage- not-comparable
- Examples
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Bend the end of that wire over to make a hook.
He bent over to touch his toes.
More examples (1)
The leaves have curled over.
Describing a physical change of position or state. On top of something, or so as to cover something.
Usage- not-comparable
- Examples
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Paint it over with a darker colour.
It's starting to cloud over.
Describing a physical change of position or state. So as to reverse up/down orientation, or otherwise change orientation by rotating.
Usage- not-comparable
- Examples
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Put the card face down, and don't turn it over until I say so.
I can't sleep on my back. I have to roll over onto my side.
Describing a physical change of position or state. So as to reverse or exchange position(s).
Usage- not-comparable
- Examples
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Swap those cables over. The red one should be in the left socket.
Expressing figurative movement from one position or state across to another.
Usage- not-comparable
- Examples
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He came over to our way of thinking on the new project.
I switched over to Channel 9.
More examples (2)
I signed the property over to him.
This advertisement doesn't clearly get the idea over.
Indicating a direction or location away from the speaker, usually roughly horizontally or visualised as such.
Usage- not-comparable
- Examples
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I'll see you over at the club.
Look over there!
Thoroughly; completely; from beginning to end.
Usage- not-comparable
- Examples
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Let's talk over the project at tomorrow's meeting.
Let me think that over.
More examples (2)
I'm going to look over our department's expenses.
During the whole time of his abode in the university he generally spent thirteen hours of the day in study; by which assiduity besides an exact dispatch of the whole course of philosophy, he read over in a manner all classic authors that are extant[…]
To a high or excessive degree; overly; see also over-.
Usage- In compounds
- not-comparable
- often
- Examples
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I'm not over bothered about going to the party.
If you're over tentative then you'll get nowhere.
More examples (1)
She seemed a placid creature altogether - eminently respectable - perhaps not over intelligent.
Beyond or in excess of what is correct or expected.
Usage- not-comparable
- Examples
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The show ran ten minutes over.
We tried to stick to budget, but in the end we went twenty dollars over.
To a future time.
Usage- not-comparable
- Examples
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Carry the shortfall over and we'll make it up tomorrow.
Overnight (throughout the night).
Usage- not-comparable
- Examples
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We missed the last bus home so we stayed over.
Can I sleep over?
Indicating repetition. Again; another time; once more; over again.
Usage- US usage
- not-comparable
- usually
- with do
- Examples
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I lost my paper and I had to do the entire assignment over.
Indicating repetition. Used for rhetorical effect to reinforce that something was done the stated number of times.
Usage- not-comparable
- Examples
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I said the magic word three times over, and the secret door slid open.
See also individual entries for phrasal verbs: go over, hand over, run over, take over, win over, etc.
Usage- not-comparable
Noun
A set of six legal balls bowled.
- Examples
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Jones hit four boundaries in the first over.
In an emotional and electric atmosphere at Lord's, both sides scored 241 in their 50 overs and were level on 15 when they batted for an extra over apiece.
Any surplus amount of money, goods delivered, etc.
- Examples
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[…] standard cash count forms used to record the count and any overs or unders.
Something having an excess of a particular property.
Usage- Informal
- Examples
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I went fishing but caught mostly overs.
In today's golf tournament we recorded three unders and twenty overs.
A bet that a particular sporting statistic, such as points scored in a game, will be above a certain stated value.
Preposition
Expressing spatial relationship or movement. Above; higher than; further up than.
- Examples
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Hold the sign up over your head.
The mountain towered over the village.
More examples (2)
Over them gleamed far off the crimson banners of morning.
The ability of a segment of a glass sphere to magnify whatever is placed before it was known around the year 1000, when the spherical segment was called a reading stone,[…]. Scribes, illuminators, and scholars held such stones directly over manuscript pages as an aid in seeing what was being written, drawn, or read.
Expressing spatial relationship or movement. Across, from one side to the other.
- Examples
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The guide took us over the border.
Expressing spatial relationship or movement. Across, so as to pass above.
- Examples
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The vulture flew over the desert.
I looked out over the sea.
More examples (1)
If I saw the wild geese fly over the dark lakes of Kerry...
Expressing spatial relationship or movement. Through or around all the parts of.
- Examples
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The estate agent showed me over the property.
We went over the cathedral and then had lunch in the cafe.
More examples (1)
(figuratively) We went over the figures together.
Expressing spatial relationship or movement. On the other side of.
- Examples
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He lives over the road from me.
The next town is over that hill.
Expressing spatial relationship or movement. At or near (a location seen as 'across' from the speaker's location).
Usage- Informal
- for ‘over at/in/on’
- Examples
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There was a big fire over the other side of town.
More examples (1)
My hopes wa'n't disappointed. I never saw clams thicker than they was along them inshore flats. I filled my dreener in no time, and then it come to me that 'twouldn't be a bad idee to get a lot more, take 'em with me to Wellmouth, and peddle 'em out. Clams was fairly scarce over that side of the bay and ought to fetch a fair price.
Expressing spatial relationship or movement. From one physical position to another via an obstacle that must be traversed vertically, first upwards and then downwards.
- Examples
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The dog jumped over the fence.
Let's walk over the hill to get there.
More examples (1)
The lava bubbled up and over the rim of the crater.
Expressing spatial relationship or movement. Across (something) and then downwards.
- Examples
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The car drove straight over the edge of the cliff.
I tripped over a tree root.
Expressing spatial relationship or movement. On top of; in such a way as to cover.
- Examples
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Drape the fabric over the table.
There is a roof over the house.
More examples (1)
(figuratively) A strange feeling came over me.
Expressing comparison. More than (a given value, amount, limit etc.); beyond; past; exceeding.
- Examples
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He is over a hundred years old.
It's over a hundred degrees outside.
More examples (1)
I think I’m over my limit for calories for today.
Expressing comparison. To a greater degree than.
- Examples
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I prefer the purple over the pink.
More examples (1)
Only for a brief two centuries in the Middle Ages did a Baltic community coalesce, under the Hanseatic League of prosperous cities that valued trade over plunder.
Expressing comparison. As compared to.
Usage- in certain collocations
- Examples
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Sales are down this quarter over last.
During or throughout (a time period).
- Examples
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He's got grumpier over the years.
I'll have to work over the weekend.
More examples (1)
Mostly, the microbiome is beneficial. It helps with digestion and enables people to extract a lot more calories from their food than would otherwise be possible. Research over the past few years, however, has implicated it in diseases from atherosclerosis to asthma to autism.
Through or via (a particular transmission medium).
- Examples
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A stern voice boomed over the loudspeaker.
The message came over FM radio.
More examples (1)
This letter contained specific details of the case confirming a sequence of events from the Penny Pinchers store. It aligned with what Jo-Anne had heard over the phone and what passing motorists saw in the rain.
Indicating relative status, authority, or power.
- Examples
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The owner's son lorded it over the experienced managers.
The prince ruled over a portion of the kingdom.
In a position of having overcome (a problem or issue); past; finished with; from one state to another via a hindrance that must be solved or defeated; or via a third state that represents a significant difference from the first two.
- Examples
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We got over the engineering problems and the prototype works great.
I am over my cold and feel great again.
More examples (3)
I know the referee made a bad call, but you have to get over it [your annoyance with the referee's decision].
She is finally over [the distress of] losing her job.
He is finally over his [distress over the loss of the relationship with his] ex-girlfriend.
While doing an activity involving (something), especially while consuming.
- Examples
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We had a chat over dinner.
He fell asleep over the crossword puzle.
More examples (3)
Six diners in business clothes—five attractive young women and a balding middle-aged man—relax over cigarettes.
Sunday had been my favorite day at Woodlawn. A long W.A.A. [="work as assigned" period], having coffee and croissants with Mark over the Sunday Times.
Over meatloaf and mashed potatoes (being careful not to talk with his mouth full), Stanley told about his adventure.
Concerning or regarding.
- Examples
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The two boys had a fight over whose girlfriend was the best.
More examples (1)
It has jailed environmental activists and is planning to limit the power of judicial oversight by handing a state-approved body a monopoly over bringing environmental lawsuits.
Above, implying superiority after a contest; in spite of; notwithstanding.
- Examples
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We triumphed over difficulties.
The bill was passed over the veto.
More examples (2)
It was a fine victory over their opponents.
I can't hear you over the noise of that road drill.
Expressing causation: due to, as the result of.
- Examples
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He was fired over that.
Microsoft CEO should be fired over cyber failure
Divided by.
- Synonyms
- Examples
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Two over six equals one over three.
Separates the three of a kind from the pair in a full house.
- Examples
-
9♦9♠9♣6♥6♠ = nines over sixes
Separates the primary chord of a slash chord from the bass note.
Interjection
A radio procedure word meaning that the station is finished with its transmission and is expecting a response.
- Examples
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Bravo Six, this is Bravo Six Four. Stand by for ten mike report one dash three, over.
Bravo Six Four, this is Bravo Six Actual. Send your traffic, over.
More examples (1)
How do you receive? Over!
Instructs the reader to turn the page and continue reading the other side.
Verb
To go over, or jump over.
Usage- UK usage
- dialectal
- Obsolete
- Transitive
- Examples
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He overed the fence in good style.
To run about.
Usage- UK usage
- dialectal
- Intransitive
- Obsolete
- Examples
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The cattle have been overing all day because of the flies.
Noun
A shore, riverbank.
Usage- dialectal
- Obsolete
- Rare
- Examples
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The sea's over.
Cassibola was ready at Dover, & renged (encamped) his men by the over.
Adjective
having come or been brought to a conclusion
- Examples
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the harvesting was complete
the affair is over, ended, finished
More examples (1)
the abruptly terminated interview
Noun
(cricket) the division of play during which six balls are bowled at the batsman by one player from the other team from the same end of the pitch
Adverb
at or to a point across intervening space etc.
- Examples
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come over and see us some time
over there
throughout an area
- Examples
-
he is known the world over
throughout a period of time
- Synonyms
- Examples
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stay over the weekend
beyond the top or upper surface or edge; forward from an upright position
- Examples
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a roof that hangs over
over the entire area
- Synonyms
- Examples
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the wallpaper was covered all over with flowers
she ached all over
More examples (1)
everything was dusted over with a fine layer of soot