Overblew

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. Blew beyond a normal or intended extent ; magnified or overstated a fact or claim beyond truth
2. Produced more blowing force than necessary or expected ; described or presented something as greater or more important than it really was
3. Caused excessive air movement beyond what was usual ; represented an idea or event with exaggerated emphasis or importance

Etymology: "Overblew" is the simple past of "overblow," so it is the form of the verb meaning to blow too hard or to puff something up beyond its real size. The verb is formed from the prefix "over-" and "blow," and its Middle English ancestor "overblowen" was built the same way: "over-" plus "blowen." The "over-" element carries the sense of excess, as in "overdo" or "overstate," while "blow" supplies the basic idea of moving air. The base verb "blow" traces back through Old English "blāwan" and a Proto-Germanic root, and it originally meant to blossom or bloom, as in flowers opening, before it came to mean the movement of air. The "over-" prefix descends from Old English "ofer," which meant over, above, or beyond. The figurative sense of exaggerating, or of inflating a matter's importance, grew naturally from the literal sense of blowing with too much force.