overweening
adjective
No English definition recorded for this entry.
L339049 on Wikidata ↗Wiktionary
Pronunciation: /əʊvəˈwiːnɪŋ/ / /oʊvɚˈwinɪŋ/
adj
Etymology: From Middle English overweninge, equivalent to overween + -ing. Cognate with obsolete Dutch overwanig, overwaand (“presumptuous; cocky; conceited”).
- Unduly confident; (sometimes also) arrogant.
“She wins one modeling contest in Montana and suddenly she’s overweening.”
“Heere's an ouer-weening rogue.”
- Exaggerated, excessive.
“The idea that an overweening federal government is a threat to both freedom and equality (not to mention prosperity) goes back to Jefferson, James Madison, Patrick Henry and some other fairly respectable personages.”
noun
Etymology: From Middle English overweninge, equivalent to overween + -ing.
- An excessively high opinion of oneself or one’s abilities; presumption, arrogance.
“Let us suppresse this over-weening [translating cuider], the first foundation of the tyrannie of the wicked spirit[…].”
verb
Etymology: See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.
- present participle and gerund of overween