Definition of "overmatch"

overmatch

/ˌəʊvə(ɹ)ˈmætʃ/

verb
third-person singular simple present overmatches, present participle overmatching, simple past and past participle overmatched
1. (transitive, intransitive) To match more than intended.
2. To be more than equal to or a match for, to surpass; hence, to conquer, vanquish.
  Quotations
  And wel his merits ſhew him to be madeHis Fortunes maiſter, and the king of men.That could perſwade at ſuch a ſodaine pinch,With reaſons of his valour and his life,A thouſand ſworne and ouer-matching foes:
  c. 1587–1588, [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […], 2nd edition, part 1, London: […] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published 1592; reprinted as Tamburlaine the Great (A Scolar Press Facsimile), Menston, Yorkshire, London: Scolar Press, 1973, Act II, scene i
  At Lemster, for her Wooll whose Staple doth excell,And seemes to over-match the golden Phrygian Fell.
  1612, Michael Drayton, Poly-Olbion, song 7 p. 104
3. To marry to a superior.
  Quotations
  he must overmatch her above her birth and calling
  1624, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], The Anatomy of Melancholy: […], 2nd edition, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Printed by John Lichfield and James Short, for Henry Cripps
noun
plural overmatches
1. A match in which one opponent is greatly superior to the other.
  Quotations
  […] we can increase the velocity of that force, so as to make it an overmatch for its antagonist.
  1748, David Hume, An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding‎, Oxford ed., ¶13, published 2007
2. An opponent who is more than a match for another; one who cannot be defeated.

Definition of "overmatch"

overmatch

verb

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noun

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