| 1. | over one's head; aloft; up in the air or sky, esp. near the zenith: There was a cloud overhead. |
| 2. | so as to be completely submerged or deeply involved: to plunge overhead in water; to sink overhead in debt. |
| 3. | situated, operating, or passing above, aloft, or over the head: an overhead sprinkler system. |
| 4. | of or pertaining to the general cost of running a business: overhead expenses; an overhead charge. |
| 5. | the general, fixed cost of running a business, as rent, lighting, and heating expenses, which cannot be charged or attributed to a specific product or part of the work operation. |
| 6. | Accounting. that part of manufacturing costs for which cost per unit produced is not readily assignable. |
| 7. | (in a hoistway) the distance between the last floor level served and the beam supporting the hoisting sheaves or machinery. |
| 8. | (in racket sports) a stroke in which the ball or shuttlecock is hit with a downward motion from above the head; smash. |
| 9. | an overhead compartment, shelf, etc.: Pillows are in the overhead above each passenger's seat. |
| 10. | Also called overhead shot. Movies, Television. a shot in which the camera is positioned above the actors, esp. directly overhead. |
| 11. | a ceiling light in a room: Turn off the overheads when you leave. |
| 12. | Also called overhead projector. a projector capable of projecting images above and behind the person operating it, thus allowing a lecturer or speaker to remain facing the audience while using it. |
| 13. | Also called overhead projection. a picture or image projected in this manner: a lecture enhanced with overheads. |
All costs of running a business other than wages paid to production workers or payments for raw material to be used in production. Overhead includes the cost of renting or leasing a store in which business is transacted, the cost of heating a factory, and similar expenses.
Overhead
A reference in accounting to all costs not including or related to direct labor, materials, or administration costs.
Investopedia Commentary
A very ambiguous term unless a modifier is added. A commonly used expression is manufacturing overhead.
See also: Fixed Cost, Variable Cost
overhead
1. Resources (in computing usually processing time or storage space) consumed for purposes which are incidental to, but necessary to, the main one. Overheads are usually quantifiable "costs" of some kind.
Examples: The overheads in running a business include the cost of heating the building. Keeping a program running all the time eliminates the overhead of loading and initialising it for each transaction. Turning a subroutine into inline code eliminates the call and return time overhead for each execution but introduces space overheads.
2.
3. Overhead transparencies or "slides" (usually 8-1/2" x 11") that are projected to an audience via an overhead (flatbed) projector.
(1997-09-01)