- to work or use to excess: to overwork a horse; to overwork an excuse
- to decorate the surface of
- to make very excited or nervous
- work that is severe or burdensome
- work beyond the amount agreed upon; extra work
verbo·ver·worked, o·ver·work·ing, o·ver·works
- To force to work too hard or too long.
- a. To rework to excess: overwork a speech.b. To use too often: “‘Vulnerable’ and ‘volatile’ were the most overworked adjectives of the '70s” (David Ansen).
- To decorate the entire surface of.
(third-person singular simple present overworks, present participle overworking, simple past and past participle overworked or overwrought)
- To make (someone) work too hard.
- to overwork a horse
- (intransitive) To work too hard.
- To fill too full of work; to crowd with labour.
- To decorate all over.
over- + work (verb)
- work over
over- + work (noun)