overheat

[ oh-ver-heet ]

verb (used with object)
  1. to heat to excess.

  2. to excite or agitate; make vehement: a crowd overheated by rabble-rousers.

verb (used without object)
  1. to become overheated: a stove that overheats alarmingly; a temper that overheats with little provocation.

noun
  1. the state or condition of being overheated; excessive heat, agitation, or vehemence.

Origin of overheat

1
First recorded in 1350–1400, overheat is from the Middle English word overheten.See over-, heat

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use overheat in a sentence

  • If one device overheats in a passenger cabin, that fire can be readily handled with an extinguisher.

    What Pilots Fear | Patrick Smith | September 3, 2009 | THE DAILY BEAST
  • When a too-burning sun overheats their upper apartments, they withdraw their little ones to the bottom of the ant-hill.

    Insect Architecture | James Rennie
  • Nature's book utters itself to the ear, and man's book blinds the eyes and overheats the imagination.

British Dictionary definitions for overheat

overheat

/ (ˌəʊvəˈhiːt) /


verb
  1. to make or become excessively hot

  2. (tr; often passive) to make very agitated, irritated, etc

  1. (intr) (of an economy) to tend towards inflation, often as a result of excessive growth in demand

  2. (tr) to cause (an economy) to tend towards inflation

noun
  1. the condition of being overheated

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012