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overgo

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overgo¹

  • /əʊvəˈɡəʊ/ UK

Where it comes from

From Middle English overgon, from Old English ofergān (“to pass over, beyond, across, traverse, cross, transgress, overstep, overrun, overcome, overspread, conquer, come upon, overtake, seize, attack, pass off, pass away, end, overreach”), equivalent to over- + go. Cognate with Dutch overgaan, German übergehen, Swedish övergå.

verb overgoes · overgoing · overwent · overgone

  1. archaic To cross, go over (a barrier etc.); to surmount.

    Similar: overcome, superate

  2. obsolete To pass (a figurative barrier); to transgress. How many an one in its vanities hath gloried and taken pride, / Till froward and arrogant thus he grew and did all bounds o'ergo!

    Similar: outstep

  3. UK, dialectal, intransitive To pass by, pass away; often, to go unnoticed. He did not rave, he did not stare aghast, / For all those visions were o'ergone, and past […]

    Similar: go by

  4. To spread across (something); to overrun.

    Similar: bespread, infest, overspread

  5. To go over, move over the top of, travel across the surface of; to traverse, travel through. forward rode, and kept her readie way / Along the strond, which as she ouer-went, / She saw bestrowed all with rich aray / Of pearles and pretious stones of great assay […]
  6. To go beyond; to exceed, surpass. O, what cause have I, / Thine being but a moiety of my grief, / To overgo thy plaints and drown thy cries!

    Similar: excel

  7. To get the better of; to overcome, overpower. Both barking Scilla, and the ſounding Rocks, / The Cyclops ſhelues, and grim Ceranias ſeat, / Have you ore gone, and yet remaine aliue?

    Similar: better, defeat, overwhelm

  8. obsolete To overtake, go faster than. If it chance, that we be overgone / By his more swiftness, urge him still to run upon our fleet, / And (lest he 'scape us to the town) still let thy javelin meet / With all his offers of retreat.

    Similar: forhale, lap, overhaul

  9. obsolete To cover. All which, my thoughts say, they shall never do, But rather, that the earth shall overgo Some one at least.

Similar: transgress, outstrip, cross, pass over

overgo²

  • /ˈəʊvəɡəʊ/ UK

Where it comes from

Blend of overlapping + oligonucleotide.

noun overgoes

  1. A sequence of overlapping oligonucleotides, used to design hybridization. Mixtures of such specific "overgo" probes can be used to screen arrayed library filters by DNA-DNA hybridization [...].

Thesaurus

verb

Similar: transgress, outstrip, cross, pass over

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Cite this
MLA

"overgo." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/overgo. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

APA

overgo. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/overgo

Chicago

"overgo." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/overgo.

BibTeX
@misc{overgo_2026,
  title = {overgo},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/overgo},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}