oversea
English edit
Etymology edit
From Middle English over-se, over see, ouer sea, from Old English ofer sǣ (literally “over/across (the) sea”); equivalent to over + sea. Compare West Frisian oerseesk, Dutch overzee, German Übersee, Danish oversøisk.
Pronunciation edit
- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /ˌəʊ.vəˈsiː/, [ˌəʊ̯.vəˈsiː]
Audio (Southern England) (file)
- (General American, Canada) IPA(key): /ˌoʊ.vɚˈsi/, [ˌoʊ̯.vɚˈsi]
- (New Zealand, General Australian) IPA(key): /ˌɐʉ.vəˈsiː/, [ˌɐʉ̯.vɐˈsiː]
- Hyphenation: over‧sea
- Rhymes: -iː
- Homophone: oversee
Adjective edit
oversea (not comparable)
- (chiefly British) Alternative form of overseas
- 1899 February, Joseph Conrad, “The Heart of Darkness”, in Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine, volume CLXV, number M, New York, N.Y.: The Leonard Scott Publishing Company, […], →OCLC, part I, page 199:
- It was the biggest thing in the town, and everybody I met was full of it. They were going to run an over-sea empire, and make no end of coin by trade.
Adverb edit
oversea (not comparable)
Derived terms edit
References edit
- “oversea”, in Dictionary.com Unabridged, Dictionary.com, LLC, 1995–present.
- Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., 1989.