Definitions

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

  • adjective Located, functioning, or originating from above.
  • adjective Of or relating to the operating expenses of a business.
  • noun The operating expenses of a business, including the costs of rent, utilities, interior decoration, and taxes, exclusive of labor and materials.
  • noun Nautical The top surface in an enclosed space of a ship.
  • noun Something, such as a light fixture, that is located above head height.
  • noun Sports A stroke in a game, such as tennis or badminton, that is made with a hard downward motion from above the head.
  • noun An overhead projector.
  • noun The image projected by an overhead projector.
  • adverb Over or above the level of the head; high or higher up.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Aloft; above; in the zenith; in the ceiling or story above.
  • Per head: properly two words.
  • Average; applicable to all.
  • Situated above or aloft.
  • So that something is over one's head: as, to be ducked overhead in the river.

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

  • noun same as overhead expenses.
  • noun A compartment on a train, bus, or airplane used for storage of luggage or accessory equipment; called also overhead compartment.
  • noun (Sports) A stroke with a racket in which the ball is struck with the racket over the head, moving in a downward motion; also called overhead stroke.
  • adverb Aloft; above; in or attached to the ceiling or roof; in the story or upon the floor above; in the zenith.
  • adverb a vertical steam engine in which the cylinder stands above the crank.
  • adverb a general term in manufactories for countershafting and gearing, when overhead.

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

  • adjective located above, especially over the head
  • adjective soccer kicked over one's own head
  • noun uncountable, business, accounting The expense of a business not directly assigned to goods or services provided.
  • noun countable, business, accounting The items or classes of expense not directly assigned to goods or services provided.
  • noun uncountable Any cost or expenditure (monetary, time, effort or otherwise) incurred in a project or activity, which does not directly contribute to the progress or outcome of the project or activity.
  • noun uncountable, business Wasted money.
  • noun tennis A smash.
  • noun nautical The ceiling of any enclosed space below decks in a vessel
  • noun transport The system of overhead wires used to power electric transport, such as streetcars, trains, or buses.
  • noun computing data or steps of computation that is only used to facilitate the computations in the system and is not directly related to the actual program code or data being processed.
  • noun juggling, by ellipsis An overhead throw.
  • adverb above one's head;in the sky
  • noun countable An overhead projector.
  • noun countable A sheet of transparent material with an image used with an overhead projector; an overhead transparency.

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

  • adverb above your head; in the sky
  • noun the expense of maintaining property (e.g., paying property taxes and utilities and insurance); it does not include depreciation or the cost of financing or income taxes
  • noun (nautical) the top surface of an enclosed space on a ship
  • adverb above the head; over the head
  • adjective located or originating from above
  • noun a transparency for use with an overhead projector
  • noun a hard return hitting the tennis ball above your head
  • noun (computer science) the processing time required by a device prior to the execution of a command
  • noun (computer science) the disk space required for information that is not data but is used for location and timing

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

over- +‎ head

Support

Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word overhead.

Examples

Comments

Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.