OVERDRIVE • FREE TRANSLATOR.ORG • Definition of Overdrive

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noun

overdrive n.

(Machinery) A gearing device which causes the drive shaft of an automobile or other machine to rotate at a speed greater than that of the engine crankshaft.

(Automotive) The gear setting of a motor vehicle at which the overdrive (1) is operative; as, cruising at 80 mph in overdrive.

Hence: (fig.) A state of unusually intense activity; as, when they got their new supercomputer, their research kicked into overdrive; one look at her made his heart jump into overdrive; used mostly of the activities of persons or groups.

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Etymology of 'Overdrive'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Overdrive" Quotes from Famous Books

... efficiently strapped into his acceleration cradle, and then the ship leaped skyward. It climbed rapidly, broke free of Earth's grasp, and, out past the moon, abruptly winked out of normal space into overdrive. It would spend the next two weeks in hyperspace, short-cutting across the galaxy ...

— The Judas Valley • Gerald Vance

... 'You overdrive your scruples, Elsmere,' said the Liberal tutor with emphasis. 'No one can say a living with 1200 souls, and no curate, is a sinecure. As for hard town work, it is absurd—you couldn't stand it. ...

— Robert Elsmere • Mrs. Humphry Ward

... institutions of so-called Christian nations and in the churches are destined to drop away, as the principles of Christianity become more clearly discerned and more honestly applied to social and national life. But the good shepherd does not overdrive his flock, but, like Jacob, 'leads on softly, according to the pace of the cattle that is before' him. We must be content to bring the world gradually to the Christian ideal. To abolish or to impose institutions or ...

— Expositions Of Holy Scripture - Volume I: St. Luke, Chaps. I to XII • Alexander Maclaren

Words linked to "Overdrive" : high gear, utilize, exploit, activeness, utilise, employ, overuse, action, high, apply, use, overwork