Etymology

overshoot

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Today it means: The amount by which something goes too far. Full definition →

Middle English overshoten ← Old English ofersċēotan
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The story

  1. Old English · inherited fromofersċēotan“to shoot down”
  2. Middle English · inherited fromovershoten
  3. English todayovershoot

From Middle English overshoten, oversheten (“to shoot beyond, shoot past, pour down from above”), perhaps continuing Old English ofersċēotan (“to shoot down”), equivalent to over- + shoot.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.