English

Determiner

overmuch

1. (chiefly Britain) Very much; too much
   • 1611, Bible (King James Version), 2 Corinthians 2:7,

     So that contrariwise ye ought rather to forgive him, and comfort him, lest perhaps such a one should be swallowed up with overmuch sorrow.

   • 1914, Theodore Roosevelt, Through the Brazilian Wilderness, London: John Murray, Chapter VII, p. 232,

     If we met with accidents, such as losing canoes and men in the rapids, or losing men in encounters with Indians, or if we encountered overmuch fever and dysentery, the loads would lighten themselves.

   • 1924, Herman Melville, Billy Budd, London: Constable & Co., Chapter 1,

     He had much prudence, much conscientiousness, and there were occasions when these virtues were the cause of overmuch disquietude in him.

   • 1990, General Sir William Jackson, Britain's defence dilemma: An inside view (rethinking British defence policy in the post-imperial era), page 78,

     This seemed to me a more important priority in 1959 than overmuch argument about nuclear philosophical heresies of one kind or another.

Adjective

overmuch ‎(not comparable)

1. Excessive
   • 1652, Nicholas Culpeper, The English Physician, London: W. Churchill, 1718, p. 98

     It is good to be applied to Womens Breasts that grow sore by the abundance of Milk coming into them. As also to repress the overmuch bleeding of the Hæmorrhoids, to cool the Inflammations of the parts there abouts, and to give ease of Pains.

   • 1693, John Locke, Some Thoughts Concerning Education, London: J. & R. Tonson, 1779, p. 16,

     Our palates grow into a relish and liking of the seasoning and cookery, which by custom they are set to: and an over-much use of salt, besides that it occasions thirst, and over-much drinking, has other ill effects upon the body.

Adverb

overmuch ‎(not comparable)

1. (chiefly Britain) Too much; overly much

   Some readers do not care overmuch for poetry.

   • 1592, William Shakespeare, Richard III, Act I, Scene 1,

     O, he hath kept an evil diet long, / And overmuch consumed his royal person:

   • 1611, Bible (KJV), Ecclesiastes 7:16:

     Be not righteous over much; neither make thyself over wise: why shouldest thou destroy thyself?

   • 1915, Caradoc Evans, "The Blast of God" in My People: Stories of the Peasantry of West Wales, New York: Boni & Liveright, 1918, p. 267,

     " […] Do you be humble, and tempt you the Big Man not overmuch. He is quick to anger."

   • 1922, E. E. Cummings, "Songs, III" in Complete Poems, 1904-1962, edited by George J. Firmage, New York: Liveright, 1991, p. 13,

     yet what am i that such and such / mysteries very simple touch / me,whose heart-wholeness overmuch / Expects of your hair pale, / a terror musical?

   • 1956, Langston Hughes, I Wonder as I Wander, edited by Joseph McLaren, Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 2003, Chapter 3, p. 115,

     All of us were being paid regularly, wined and dined overmuch and had the whole theater world of Moscow for our enjoyment.

Pronoun

overmuch

1. Too much
   • 1922, Knut Hamsun, Wanders, translated by W. Worster, London: Gyldendal, p. 190,

     They had felled too freely here; the sawmills had taken over-much, leaving next to no young wood.

   • 1947, Pindar, "Pythia 1" in Odes, translated by Richmond Lattimore, University of Chicago Press, p. 46,

     If citizens hear overmuch of the bliss of others, it galls the secrecy of their hearts.