Search the Dictionary

To excel or exceed in power; to cause to yield; to vanquish; to subdue; as, the light overpowers the eyes. "And overpower'd that gallant few." Wordsworth.

Excelling in power; too powerful; irresistible. -- O`ver*pow"er*ing*ly, adv.

The overpowering emotion excited when something unaccountable, wonderful, or dreadful is presented to the mind; an intense degree of surprise; amazement. Lest the place And my quaint habits breed astonishment. Milton.

To force to yield; to overpower; to subjugate. Easy sleep their weary limbs compelled. Dryden. I compel all creatures to my will. Tennyson.

overning influence over; to check; to counteract; to restrain; to regulate; to govern; to overpower. Give me a staff of honor for mine age, But not a scepter to control the world. Shak. I feel my virtue struggling in my soul: But stronger passion does its power control. Dryden.

To overpower; to overcome; to subdue or master. [Obs.] His two chamberlains Will I with wine and wassail so convince That memory, the warder of the brain, Shall be a fume. Shak.

To overpower with light; to confuse the sight of by brilliance of light. Those heavenly shapes Will dazzle now the earthly, with their blaze Insufferably bright. Milton. An unreflected light did never yet Dazzle the vision feminine. Sir H. Taylor.

To overwhelm, as with a deluge; to cover; to overspread; to overpower; to submerge; to destroy; as, the northern nations deluged the Roman empire with their armies; the land is deluged with woe. At length corruption, like a general fldeluge all. Pope.

The act or motion of drifting; the force which impels or drives; an overpowering influence or impulse. A bad man, being under the drift of any passion, will follow the impulse of it till something interpose. South.

To overpower; to overcome; to extinguish; -- said especially of sound. Most men being in sensual pleasures drowned. Sir J. Davies. My private voice is drowned amid the senate. Addison. To drown up, to swallow up. [Obs.] Holland.

mind is elevated above the reach of ordinary impressions, as when under the influence of overpowering emotion; an extraordinary elevation of the spirit, as when the soul, unconscious of sensible objects, is supposed to contemplate heavenly mysteries. Like a mad prophet in an ecstasy. Dryden. This is the very ecstasy o…

To do violence to; to overpower, or to compel by violence to one;s will; especially, to ravish; to violate; to commit rape upon. To force their monarch and insult the court. Dryden. I should have forced thee soon wish other arms. Milton. To force a spotless virgin's chastity. Shak.

wain. Spenser. A . . . specter, in a far more terrific guise than any which ever yet have overpowered the imagination. Burke.

Causing overpowering sorrow.

Causing intense grief; overpowering with anguish; very distressing.

That can not be successfully resisted or opposed; superior to opposition; resistless; overpowering; as, an irresistible attraction. An irresistible law of our nature impels us to seek happiness. J. M. Mason.

To become the master of; to subject to one's will, control, or authority; to conquer; to overpower; to subdue. Obstinacy and willful neglects must be mastered, even though it cost blows. Locke.

Heavy; overpowering; hard to be borne; as, oppressive grief or woe. To ease the soul of one oppressive weight. Pope. -- Op*press"ive*ly, adv. -- Op*press"ive*ness, n.

To overpower by disdain; to outface. [Obs.] Marston.

To overpower by talking; to exceed in talking; to talk down. Shak.