overreach

o·ver·reach

to reach or stretch beyond or above; extend beyond
to reach too far for and miss
to get the better of by cunning or cheating; outwit

to reach too far
to strike the forefoot with the hind foot: said of animals

overreach Idioms

overreach oneself

to fail because of trying to do more than one can
to fail because of being too crafty or eager

overreach

verb

o·ver·reached, o·ver·reach·ing, o·ver·reach·es

verb

transitive

To reach or extend over or beyond.
To miss by reaching too far or attempting too much: overreach a goal.
To defeat (oneself) by going too far or by doing or trying to gain too much.
To get the better of, especially by deceitful cleverness; outwit.

verb

intransitive

To reach or go too far.
To overreach oneself.
To outwit or cheat others.
To strike the front part of a hind foot against the rear or side part of a forefoot or foreleg on the same side of the body. Used of a horse.

Related Forms:

o′ver·reach′
noun

o′ver·reach′er
noun

overreach

Noun

(plural overreaches)

The act of striking the heel of the fore foot with the toe of the hind foot; -- said of horses.
The act of extending or reaching too far, overextension.

Verb

(third-person singular simple present overreaches, present participle overreaching, simple past and past participle overreached)

To reach above or beyond in any direction.
To deceive, or get the better of, by artifice or cunning; to outwit; to cheat.
To reach too far
(of horses) To strike the toe of the hind foot against the heel or shoe of the forefoot.
(nautical) To sail on one tack farther than is necessary.

Origin

over- +"Ž reach.

SentencesSentence examples

Sentence Examples

There can be no doubt, in spite of the apology for his action published by Guizot in his memoirs, that Louis Philippe made a deliberate attempt to overreach the British government; and, if the attempt issued in disaster to himself, this was due, not to the failure of his statecraft so much as to his neglect of the obvious factor of human nature.

Words near overreach in the dictionary