Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • intransitive verb To heat too much.
  • intransitive verb To cause to become excited, agitated, or overstimulated.
  • intransitive verb To become too hot or very excited.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • To heat to excess.
  • noun Excessive heat.
  • noun Sunstroke.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • transitive verb To heat to excess; to superheat.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • verb transitive To heat excessively
  • verb intransitive To become excessively hot

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • verb get excessively and undesirably hot
  • verb make excessively or undesirably hot

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

over- +‎ heat

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Examples

  • As Singapore's prime minister recently pointed out, if foreign workers are not allowed in, the economy will "overheat" - when productive capacity is unable to keep pace with growing demand and growth occurs at an unsustainable rate.

    Cayman Net News Daily Headlines 2010

  • The economy that is growing quickly would tend to "overheat"-an economic phenomenon characterized by accelerated growth, inflation and the potential for asset bubbles.

    Roubini: Here's Why a Gold Standard Won't Work - CNBC 2010

  • There was an "overheat" warning in the No. 2 engine, followed by a "fire" warning.

    The Seattle Times 2010

  • There was an "overheat" warning in the No. 2 engine, followed by a "fire" warning.

    StarTribune.com rss feed 2010

  • There was an "overheat" warning in the No. 2 engine, followed by a "fire" warning.

    SFGate: Top News Stories By KRISTEN GELINEAU 2010

  • There was an "overheat" warning in the No. 2 engine, followed by a "fire" warning.

    chron.com Chronicle 2010

  • There was an "overheat" warning in the No. 2 engine, followed by a "fire" warning.

    Yahoo! News: Business - Opinion 2010

  • There was an "overheat" warning in the No. 2 engine, followed by a "fire" warning.

    StarTribune.com rss feed 2010

  • The more you attack, the more the meter fills up, and when you "overheat," you're immobilized.

    GayGamer.net 2009

  • No it's not normal for an iMac to "overheat" period.

    Discussions: Message List - root 2008

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