overhear
/oʊ.vɚˈhɪɚ/ verb
Forms overhears overhearing overheard
- verb (ambitransitive) To hear something that was not meant for one's ears. “I was hanging clothes in the garden and I overheard the neighbours talking about Sheila's pregnancy.”
Synonyms
Etymology
From Middle English overheren, from Old English oferhīeran (“to overhear, hear, disobey, disregard, neglect”), equivalent to over- + hear. Cognate with Dutch overhoren (“to hear, hear about”), German überhören (“to not hear, ignore”), Danish overhøre (“to overhear”), Icelandic yfirheyra (“to hear”), Gothic *𐌿𐍆𐌰𐍂𐌷𐌰𐌿𐍃𐌾𐌰𐌽 (*ufarhausjan, “to disregard, disobey”) (in 𐌿𐍆𐌰𐍂𐌷𐌰𐌿𐍃𐌴𐌹𐌽𐍃 (ufarhauseins)).
Webster’s 1913
- verb To hear more of (anything) than was intended to be heard; to hear by accident or artifice. Shak.
- verb To hear again. ShaK.
Etymology [AS. oferhiéran.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “overhear”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details