overcrowd

English

Etymology

Etymology tree

Proto-Indo-European *úp

Proto-Indo-European *-er

Proto-Indo-European *upér

Proto-Germanic *uber

Old English ofer-

Middle English over-

English over-

Proto-Indo-European *grewt-der.

Proto-Germanic *krūdaną

Proto-West Germanic *krūdan

Old English crūdan

Middle English crouden

English crowd

English overcrowd

From over- + crowd.

Pronunciation

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Verb

overcrowd (third-person singular simple present overcrowds, present participle overcrowding, simple past and past participle overcrowded)

1. To fill beyond reasonable limits, with people, animals, objects or information.
   • 1961 January, “The North-East London electrification of the Great Eastern Line”, in Trains Illustrated, page 19:

     The host of business travellers between Bishops Stortford and London would scarcely take kindly to devious routing via the Southbury line; on the other hand, it is not desirable that they should overcrowd the business trains to and from Cambridge.

Derived terms

• overcrowder

Translations

to fill beyond reasonable limits

• Bulgarian: претъпквам (bg) (pretăpkvam)
• Hungarian: túlzsúfol (hu), túlnépesít (hu)
• Italian: affollare (it)
• Māori: opuru
• Polish: zatłaczać impf, zatłoczyć pf, przepełniać impf, przepełnić (pl) pf
• Portuguese: sobrelotar, superlotar (pt)
• Spanish: amuchar demasiadamente