Overstand
noun, verb ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 The measurement between the top plate and the fingerboard where the neck meets the body of the instrument.
- 1 To stand or insist too much or too long; overstay. rare
"But they that overstand the day of grace, shall not obtain to cool their tongues so much of this water as will hang on the tip of one's finger."
- 2 To have complete or intuitive comprehension of; to understand fully.
""But, Sister, it look like you neither overstand or understand""
- 3 To stand too strictly on the demands or conditions of. transitive
- 4 To sail to the mark at a wider angle than is the normal upwind angle, to go beyond the layline
- 5 To be neglected and left uncut for too long.
"When a coppice woodland is no longer cut on its regular rotation the rods from the stool continue to grow and the coppice becomes known as overstood. Sadly, in many parts of the country this is the commonest form of coppice you are likely to see."
Synonyms
All synonymsExample
More examples"But they that overstand the day of grace, shall not obtain to cool their tongues so much of this water as will hang on the tip of one's finger."
Etymology
From Middle English overstonden, from Old English oferstandan (“to stand over”), equivalent to over- + stand. Cognate with Dutch overstaan (“to stand over”), German überstehen (“to stand through, survive”).
Blend of over + understand, coined in Rastafarianism before 1965.
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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.