a1439 J. Lydgate Fall of Princes (Bodl. 263) v. 434 In the ouerwhelmyng of hir [sc. Fortune's] vntrusti wheel.

1532 (c1385) Usk's Test. Loue in Wks. G. Chaucer iii. f. ccclix The course of the planettes & ouerwhelmynges of the sonne in dayes & nightes.

1583 R. Harrison Three Catechismes in R. Harrison & R. Browne Writings (1953) 140 It representeth a drowning & overwhelming.

1611 S. Daniel Cleopatra iii. i That no deuice Our vtter ouerwhelming could withhold?

1645 J. Milton Tetrachordon 39 The overwhelming of his afflicted servants.

1754 J. Byng Diary 28 Sept. in C. B. Andrews Torrington Diaries (1938) IV. 82 I am now for the noise, the dirt, the overwhelmings of London.

a1798 T. Pennant Tour on Continent (1948) 165 All the horrors of a siege were explained;..the springing of the mines; the overwhelming or rather inclosure of parties of 30 or 40 in the souterrains.

1835 W. G. Simms Partisan II. i. 4 Those influences which were crowding together, as it was fondly thought by the patriots, for the overwhelming of foreign domination.

1883 Athenæum 4 Aug. 134/3 A story of a sharp fight for existence and an ultimate overwhelming.

1959 D. Krook Three Trad. Moral Thought x. 275 That other aspect of the sexual act that Augustine finds so disturbing, that oblivion which the poets called the ‘little death’, the overwhelming of the will and the reason, need have no terror in it.

2001 Church Times 12 Apr. 19/1 Religion is not going to go away, even when faced with the multiple overwhelmings of modernity.

1567 T. Drant tr. Horace Satyrs in tr. Horace Arte Poetrie sig. J.iiij Fetche from the brim And ouerwhelming waues.

1596 R. Linche Dom Diego in Diella sig. F6^v Those Louers now twixt whom late dwelt annoy, Swymming in seas of ouer-whelming ioy.

1625 K. Long tr. J. Barclay Argenis ii. ii. 75 Some speedy friends deliuered them from the ouer-whelming water.

1725 E. F. Haywood Masqueraders 11 She long'd to impart the mighty Bliss; she panted to pour out the overwhelming Transport.

1742 E. Young Complaint: Night the Third 17 O'erwhelming Turrets threaten ere they fall.

1783 R. Cumberland Mysterious Husband ii. 24 Struggling in a tide of passions, from whose overwhelming force no hand but thine can save me!

1839 C. Darwin in R. Fitzroy & C. Darwin Narr. Surv. Voy. H.M.S. Adventure & Beagle III. xvi. 370 The island itself..showed the overwhelming power of the earthquake.

1887 Spectator 8 Oct. 1337 The temptation to close the Canal against our troopships may be overwhelming.

1915 W. S. Maugham Of Human Bondage xcii. 484 He felt an overwhelming compassion for her, and with all his heart he forgave her for the misery she had caused him.

1966 C. Achebe Man of People i. 5 I was in the public gallery the day the Prime Minister received his overwhelming vote of confidence.

1993 Private Eye 13 Dec. 26/2 You are foolish to fight on, in the face of overwhelming odds. Some might call it courage. I prefer to call it boneheaded stupidity.

1571 Duke of Norfolk in 14th Rep. Royal Comm. Hist. MSS (1896) App. iv. 574 Prayinge..with an ouerwhelminge harte and watered cheekes.

1599 W. Shakespeare Romeo & Juliet v. i. 39 An Appothacarie..In tattred weeds with ouerwhelming browes. View more context for this quotation

a1764 R. Lloyd Law Student in Poet. Wks. (1774) I. 28 Noting down sage dictums from the court, With overwhelming brow, and law-learn'd face.

1835 W. Irving Legends of Conquest of Spain in Crayon Misc. III. 263 The astrologer listened with deep attention, and overwhelming brow, to all the surmises and suspicions of the emir.

1876 C. Wells Joseph & his Brethren i. vi. 76 My curlèd Simeon, and Issachar With overwhelming brow, it is well done.