Overleap

Part of speech: verb

Pronunciation: /oʊvərˈliːp/

Definitions

1. To jump over or vault across an obstacle ; to go beyond a specified limit or boundary
2. To clear a barrier by jumping ; to exceed a number, amount, or degree
3. To leap across something physically ; to surpass or go further than a certain point or standard

Etymology: Old English had "oferhlēapan," built from "ofer" (over) and "hlēapan" (to leap), and it passed into Middle English as "overlepen." The word has kept its literal sense of springing across something, but the more striking development is the figurative one: to overleap a limit is to ignore it and go past it, so the verb can describe a person who overreaches or a plan that goes too far. The same pattern appears in neighbouring languages. Dutch "overlopen" can mean "to spill over" or "overflow," and German "überlaufen" can mean "to overrun" or "overflow." These cousins sit on a slightly different idea from the English verb, showing that the Germanic "over-" compounds shared a core notion of movement across a boundary, which English later narrowed toward leaping.

Synonyms: jump over, bypass

Antonyms: fall short