释义 |
▪ I. overman, n. Chiefly north.|ˈəʊvəmən| Forms: see over. (Also oversman.) [over- 2 b.] †1. A man having authority or rule over others; a superior, leader, ruler, chief. Obs. exc. as in 3.
c1250Gen. & Ex. 3424 And if he riȝten it ne can, He taune it al his ouer-man. a1300Cursor M. 6968 (Cott.) Ilk kinredd o þe tuelue Had þair ouer man ham selfe. c1375Sc. Leg. Saints xxxii. (Justin) 598 Bot sene þu þe kirk is in As oure-man saulis to wyne. 1456Sir G. Haye Law Arms (S.T.S.) 113 Redy at bidding of his our-men to do his honour and charge of his lord. 1625in Cosin's Corr. (Surtees) i. 61, I shall wholy and totally make you overseer, and overman to, of my book at presse. 2. An arbiter, arbitrator, umpire.
c1470Henry Wallace viii. 1332 Throuch ii clemyt, thar hapnyt gret debait,..Ȝour king thai ast for to be thair ourman. 1552Reg. Privy Council Scot. I. 127 Hes chosin..George Commendatour of Dunfermling, odman and ourman in the saidis materis. 1884Pall Mall G. 5 Dec. 2/1 The two having the power to call in the services of an overman. 3. The man who is over a body of workmen; a foreman, overseer; spec. in a colliery (see quots.).
1708J. C. Compl. Collier (1845) 36 It is the Over-Man's Business to place the Miners in their Workings. 1789Brand Hist. Newcastle II. 682 The overman's office is to go through the pit to view the places where the men have wrought, to see that the pit is clear of sulphur, &c. 1805Trans. Soc. Arts XXIII. 33 My over-man being unacquainted with the drill husbandry. 1867Colliery Rules in W. W. Smyth Coal & Coal-mining 231 None but the over⁓man, or similar officer, to be allowed to carry a lamp key. 4. (ˈəʊvəmæn.) [tr. G. übermensch.] = superman.
1895tr. M. Nordau's Degeneration iii. v. 470 The ‘bullies’ gratefully recognise themselves in Nietzsche's ‘overman’. 1900Q. Rev. July 116 In such old religion he discovers no prophecy of the man that is to be; he reaches forward to some ‘overman’ beyond it. 1908H. G. Wells War in Air xi. 365 His mind ran to ‘improving the race’ and producing the Over-Man. 1915Lond. Q. Rev. Jan. 59 Such a process of superabstraction would involve either an overman or a deus ex machina. 1928A. Huxley Point Counter Point vi. 108 If you were a little less of an overman,..what good novels you'd write! 1932[see Nietzschean n. and a.]. 1971Black Scholar June 50/1 The ‘magnificent savage’, ‘the mindless overman’, is even dying with the deficiency. 1976M. & G. Gordon Ordeal xi. 69 He would overlook Charlie's shortcomings. An overman had to... Vince had read as much of Nietzsche as necessary to learn about the overmen—the supermen—and the inferiors, the masses. ▪ II. overman, v.|əʊvəˈmæn| [over- 21, 27.] 1. trans. To overcome, overpower. rare. [= Du. overmannen, Ger. übermannen.]
1607Rowlands Famous Hist. 28 I'le never dread I shall be over man'd While I have hands to fight, or legs to stand. 1851H. Melville Moby Dick I. xxxvii. 270 My soul is more than matched; she's overmanned—and by a mad⁓man! 1865Reader No. 144. 366/3 Every foe is overmanned. 2. (ˌover-ˈman). To furnish with too many men.
1636–7Let. in Crt. & Times Chas. I (1849) II. 269 All the ships were overmanned which had infection among them. 1774Franklin Lett. Wks. 1887 V. 371 Three ships of the line are fitting out for America, which are to be over-manned. 1899Daily News 12 Sept. 6/4 In my times..some departments were overmanned and some were undermanned. Hence (in sense 2) over-ˈmanning vbl. n.
1971New Scientist 9 Sept. 553/1 Output has reflected this over-manning. 1975Broadcast 28 July 4/1 The ACTT does not consider overmanning..to be a central issue in the financial problems confronting ITV. 1975Times Lit. Suppl. 12 Sept. 1028/4 During the winter over⁓manning was enforced—one labourer per fifteen acres. 1975Daily Tel. 19 Sept. 3/3 (heading) Sir Keith urges TUC to curb overmanning. 1978Jrnl. R. Soc. Arts CXXVI. 656/1 The overmanning in all the factories that I visited was very considerable. |