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overstep

[oh-ver-step]

Origin

verb (used with object), -stepped, -step·ping.

to go beyond; exceed: to overstep one's authority.

Origin:
before 1000; Middle English oversteppen, Old English ofersteppan. See over-, step

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
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Overstep is one of our favorite verbs.

So is peculate. Does it mean:

to chew (food) slowly and thoroughly.

to steal or take dishonestly (money, esp. public funds, or property entrusted to one's care); embezzle.

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Collins

World English Dictionary

overstep (ˌəʊvəˈstɛp)

—vb , -steps, -stepping, -stepped
	(tr) to go beyond (a certain or proper limit)

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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Etymonline

Word Origin & History

overstep

O.E. ofersteppan, from ofer "over" + steppan "to step" (see step). From the beginning, used in fig. senses.

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"Very few men can speak of Nature, for instance, with any truth. They overstep her modesty, somehow or other, and confer no favor. They do not speak a good word for her. Most cry better than they speak, and you can get more nature out of them by pinching than by addressing them. The surliness with which the woodchopper speaks of his woods, handling them as indifferently as his axe, is better than the mealy-mouthed enthusiasm of the lover of nature. Better that the primrose by the river's brim be a yellow primrose, and nothing more, than that it be something less."

-Henry David Thoreau

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overstep

o·ver·step