| 释义 |
▪ I. overwork, n.
(see below)
[OE. oferweorc, f. ofer-, over- 1: cf. Du. overwork in sense 2.]
I. |ˈəʊvəwɜːk|.
†1. A work placed or raised over something, a superstructure; spec. in OE. a sepulchral monument. Obs. [over- 1.]
[c1000ælfric Hom. II. 404 Wa eow hiwerum, ᵹe sind ᵹelice ᵹemettum ofer-ᵹeweorcum.] c1000Aldhelm Gloss. (Napier) 3501 Sarcofagi, i. tumba, [gloss] oferweorces. c1200Ormin 1035, & tær oferr þatt arrke wass An oferrwerrc wel timmbredd, Þatt wass Propitiatoriumm O Latin spæche nemmnedd. Ibid. 1046, & tær uppo þatt oferrwerrc Þeȝȝ haffdenn liccness metedd Off Cherubyn.
2. Extra work, work beyond the regular or stipulated amount. [over- 19.]
1858Simmonds Dict. Trade, Over-time, Over-work, extra labour done beyond the regular fixed hours of business. 1883St. James's Gaz. 23 Sept. (Cassell), The injustice and mischief of the exaction of overwork.
II. |ˈəʊvəˈwɜːk|.
3. Excessive work, work beyond one's capacity or strength. [over- 29 b.]
1818J. W. Croker in C. Papers (1884) 8 Dec., My complaint is an uneasiness in the head..from overwork. 1860Mrs. Carlyle Lett. III. 36 A sleepless, excited condition through prolonged over-work. 1874Ruskin Hortus Inclusus (1887) 12, I am a little oppressed just now with overwork.
▪ II. overwork, v.|əʊvəˈwɜːk, ˌəʊvə-|
Pa. tense and pple. -wrought, -worked.
[OE. oferwiercan, f. over- 8: cf. Du. overwerken. See also below.]
I.
1. trans. To work all over, to figure or decorate the surface of. (Only in pa. pple.) [over- 8.]
a1000Sal. & Sat. (Kemble) 150 Sy fram oðrum to ðam midle mid ðy gulliscan seolfre oferworht. 1579Dee Diary (Camden) 6 My dream of being naked, and my skyn all overwrought with worke like some kind of tuft mockado, with crosses blew and red. 1658Sir T. Browne Hydriot. 18 Long brass plates overwrought like the handles of neat implements. 1711Pope Temp. Fame 120 Of Gothic structure was the Northern side, O'erwrought with ornaments of barb'rous pride. 1836S. Rogers Inscript. in Crimea 4 This cistern of white stone, Arched, and o'erwrought with many a sacred verse.
†2. To work upon successfully; to influence, gain over to a certain course. Obs. [over- 11.]
1593Nashe Christ's T. Ded. 2 The cunning courtship of faire words, can neuer ouer-worke mee to cast away honor on anie. 1634Sanderson Serm. II. 292 In that, he is overwrought by craft; in this, over-born by might. 1661Sir H. Vane's Politics 14 These I over-wrought, won, and made mine own.
II.
3. a. trans. To cause to work too hard; to impose too much work on; to work (a man, horse, etc.) beyond his capacity or strength; to weary or exhaust with work. Also transf. and fig. [over- 27, 21.]
1530Palsgr. 650/1 Whan I overworke myselfe I am the werier two dayes after. 1574Hellowes Gueuara's Fam. Ep. (1577) 143 Seeing my maister so continually to chide me,..so to ouerworke me, and so cruelly to deale with me. 1666Pepys Diary 13 Dec., I perceive my overworking my eyes by candlelight do hurt them. 1725De Foe Voy. round World (1840) 103 To keep our men fully employed..and yet not to overwork them. 1870Daily News 8 Dec., To overwork and starve the horses confided to them. c1878G. M. Hopkins Loss of Eurydice in Poems (1967) 72 No Atlantic squall overwrought her. 1922Times Lit. Suppl. 12 Oct. 642/2 Gobineau has carefully avoided any such threadbare device as that of the missing heir so overworked by Scott. 1951T. Sterling House without Door iii. 35 Wall Street—you know that phrase is overworked. 1963P. Phillips in Sissons & French Age of Austerity vi. 148 There was a New Look in daffodils..in housing..in furniture... The phrase was disastrously over-worked. 1977Times 7 Apr. 20/4 The episode is characteristic (the one word he overworks in this book).
b. To fill too full with work.
1876Longfellow Terrace of Aigalades iii, My days with toil are overwrought. 1880McCarthy Own Times IV. lxii. 374 His life had been overwrought in every way.
c. intr. To work to excess, work too much.
1894O. W. Holmes in Daily News 10 Oct. 6/4 For a man who has all his life been overworking, I can at eighty-five but be sincerely thankful for my many mercies.
4. To work too much upon, spend too much work on (a book, speech, etc.); to elaborate to excess. (Only in pa. pple.) [over- 27.]
1638Rouse Heav. Univ. (1702) Pref., That such Christians may abound, is the end of this Work; which for ought I know hath not been over-wrought. 1683Soame & Dryden tr. Boileau's Art Poetry i. 4 Sometimes an Author, fond of his own Thought, Pursues his Object till it's over-wrought. 1884Daily News 1 Apr. 4/7 Mr. Gladstone's speech was..not overwrought, it was not a sentence too long.
5. transf. and fig. To work into a state of excitement or confusion, to stir up or excite excessively.
1645Milton Colast. Wks. (1851) 368 By overworking the settl'd mudd of his fancy, to make him drunk, and disgorge his vileness the more openly. 1816Byron Ch. Har. iii. vii, Till my brain became, In its own eddy boiling and o'erwrought, A whirling gulf of phantasy and flame. 1855Tennyson Maud ii. i. viii, Strange, that the mind, when fraught With a passion so intense..should, by being so overwrought, Suddenly strike on a sharper sense For a shell, or a flower, little things Which else would have been past by.
Hence overworked |-ˈwɜːkt| ppl. a., worked too hard or to excess, worked beyond one's strength; also transf. and fig.; overˈworking vbl. n., working or being worked too hard; overˈworking ppl. a.
1833J. Macl. Campbell in Mem. (1877) I. iv. 107 As to the overworking of mind..I have been myself sensible of it. Ibid., The demand which dear Mr. Erskine's overworking mind makes on others. 1849H. Crawford Time's Peerless Gem 36 The triumph of the over-working system. 1854C. M. Yonge Heartsease II. iii. xiii. 292 Violet..weak, anxious, and overworked. 1859Longfellow in Life (1891) II. 384 Agassiz has got run down with overworking. 1864Social Sci. Rev. 4 Time was when the very phrase overworked men would have been considered foolish and out of the question. 1865Public Opinion 4 Feb. 112 The overworking of the service we believe to be the chief cause of the late accidents. 1959M. Summerton Small Wilderness i. 5 That over-worked truism about the wife being the last to know. 1978Times 14 Jan. 14/1 The phrase ‘low profile’..an over-worked image almost evacuated of meaning. |