overreach

The story

1. Middle English · inherited fromoverrechen“to rise above; to extend beyond or over; to encroach; to catch, overtake; to reach; to obtain wrongfully (?); to take up (a book) to revise it”
2. English todayoverreach

The verb is from Middle English overrechen (“to rise above; to extend beyond or over; to encroach; to catch, overtake; to reach; to obtain wrongfully (?); to take up (a book) to revise it”) [and other forms], equivalent to over- + reach; the noun is derived from the verb or from the phrase to reach over.

First known use, by meaning

• from 14th c. To reach above or beyond, especially to an excessive degree.
• from 14th c. To defeat or override a person's interest in property; (UK, specifically) of a holder of the legal title of real property: by mortgaging or selling the legal title to a third party, to cause another person's equitable right in the property to be dissolved and to be replaced by an equitable right in the money received from the third party.
• from 16th c. Of a horse: to strike the heel of a forefoot with the toe of a hindfoot.
• from 16th c. To get the better of, especially by artifice or cunning; to outwit.