Etymology

overbreak

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Today it means: To cave in near the edge of an excavation. Full definition →

Middle English *overbreken ← Old English oferbrecan
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The story

  1. Old English · derived fromoferbrecan“to transgress, violate”
  2. Middle English · derived from*overbreken
  3. English todayoverbreak

From Middle English *overbreken, from Old English oferbrecan (“to transgress, violate”), equivalent to over- + break.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.