1893 E. L. Wakeman in Columbus (Ohio) Dispatch 20 Apr. High overarchings of ancient ash trees.

1893 J. Tuckey tr. B. Hatschek Amphioxus 92 In that stage of the development which we have just described there took place a series of processes which may be referred to foldings, stretchings, and over-archings.

1896 H. G. Wells Island of Dr Moreau 83 in J. D. Brody Blackness, Femininity, & Victorian Culture iii. 151 I saw with quivering disgust that it was like neither man nor beast, but a mere shock of grey hair, with three shadowy overarchings to mark the eyes and mouth.

2000 Nat. Hist. (Nexis) 1 Apr. 32 Glory and fascination lie as much in the little foibles as in the grand overarchings.

1720 J. Gay Dione iii. ii, in Poems II. 475 Hast thou yet found the over-arching bower, Which guards Parthenia from the sultry hour?

1725 A. Pope tr. Homer Odyssey II. ix. 216 A fence of marble from the rock, Brown with o'er-arching pine, and spreading oak.

1845 H. B. Hirst Poems 32 From the valley dark and deep To the over-arching sky.

1851 J. W. Barber Hist. Coll. State of N.Y. 115 Over ridges and amorphous masses of granite and gneiss rock, flowing with comparative gentleness beneath the overarching bridge and aqueduct.

1886 Centennial Offering 135 The overarching boughs of the open woods.

1926 J. S. Huxley Ess. Pop. Sci. 192 The great biological invention, the amnion, came into existence—an overarching membrane grown by the embryo for its own protection.

1938 E. Bevan Symbolism & Belief iii. 62 The wholly separate world he sees overhead..gives, as nothing else can give, the vision of overarching immensity.

1998 J. L. Heilbron Geom. Civilized i. 18 They took a very high line: students should be taught over-arching or foundational concepts, the true basis of all mathematics.