overflow
overflow Lexical Profile
overflow Game Scores & Validity
• verb
To flow over the brim, banks, or boundaries of a container or channel, or to flood a surface (of a liquid or its container).
"Days of torrential rain caused the river to overflow its banks and flood the surrounding farmland."
To be so full or crowded that people or things extend beyond the available space.
"By mid-morning, the weekend farmers' market began to overflow into the adjacent streets."
To be filled to excess with an emotion, quality, or resource (usually followed by 'with').
"Her notebooks overflow with creative sketches and observations from her travels."
• noun
The flowing over of a liquid or substance beyond the limits or capacity of its container, or the excess amount that spills out.
"A backup drainage pipe was installed to carry away any overflow from the reservoir during heavy storms."
An excess number of people or things that cannot be accommodated in an available space.
"The main lecture hall reached full capacity early, so the overflow watched the presentation on screens in the lobby."
In computing, a condition in which a calculation or operation produces a value or data volume too large to fit within the allotted memory register or buffer.
"The software engineer patched a vulnerability that could allow a buffer overflow to crash the server."
Word Nuance & Usage
The past tense and past participle of the verb 'overflow' is always 'overflowed', never 'overflown' (which is the past participle of 'overfly', meaning to fly over a location).
• Nearby Words
Word Origin & Etymology
From Old English oferflowan, meaning to flow over or inundate, formed from ofer- (over) and flowan (to flow).