overreach

English

Etymology

over- +‎ reach.

Pronunciation

• (noun) IPA^(key): /ˈəʊvəˌriːt͡ʃ/
• (verb) IPA^(key): /ˌəʊvəˈriːt͡ʃ/

  Rhymes: -iːtʃ

Noun

overreach (countable and uncountable, plural overreaches)

1. The act of striking the heel of the fore foot with the toe of the hind foot; -- said of horses.
2. The act of extending or reaching too far, overextension.
   • 9 October 2018, A. A. Dowd, AV Club The star and director of La La Land reunite for First Man’s spectacular trip to the moon [1]

     Chazelle and Singer acknowledge both the impressive resourcefulness and faintly insane overreach of the space race; they were winging it, attempting the impossible with relatively primitive technology—“Boys making models out of balsa wood,” Janet calls them, after Director Of Flight Operations Deke Slayton (Kyle Chandler) cuts the radio feed during a mission gone wrong.

   • 2010, Brian Montopoli, CBS News Obama: People Saw "Overreach" in My Actions:

     But, you know, I'm sympathetic to folks who looked at it and said, 'This is looking like potential overreach.'"

Verb

overreach (third-person singular simple present overreaches, present participle overreaching, simple past and past participle overreached)

1. (transitive) To reach above or beyond. [from 14th c.]
2. (transitive) To get the better of, especially by artifice or cunning; to outwit. [from 16th c.]
   • 1594, William Shakespeare, The Taming of the Shrew, III. ii. 144:

     We'll overreach the greybeard Gremio,

   • 1599, William Shakespeare, The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, V. i. 78:

     This might be / the pate of a politician, which this ass now o'erreaches; / one that would circumvent God, might it not?

   • 1764, Horace Walpole, The Castle of Otranto, II:

     Manfred, who concluded that he had either over-reached the good man, or that his first warmth had been but a tribute paid to appearance, was overjoyed at this sudden turn […].

3. (of horses) To strike the toe of the hind foot against the heel or shoe of the forefoot. [from 16th c.]
4. (intransitive) To reach too far. [from 17th c.]
5. (nautical) To sail on one tack farther than is necessary.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Shakespeare to this entry?)