Etymology

overhead

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Today it means: Located above, especially over the head. Full definition →

Middle English owerheved ← Old English oferhēafod
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overhead · adjective, noun, adverb, preposition1

  1. Old English · inherited fromoferhēafod
  2. Middle English · inherited fromowerheved
  3. English todayoverhead

From Middle English owerheved, over-hed, over hede (adverb), from Old English oferhēafod (adverb), equivalent to over- + head. Compare German Low German overhoopt, överhoopt, German überhaupt. Piecewise doublet of overchief.

overhead · noun2

(Sense 1) Abbreviation of overhead projector. : (Sense 2) Back-formation from overhead projector.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.