overflush

English

Etymology

over- +‎ flush

Noun

overflush (plural overflushes)

1. Surplus assets.
   • 1848, The Law Journal Reports, page 233:

     In his judgment in this case, the vice Chancellor Wigram refers to my decision in Woods v. Woods, in which I held, that under a gift of "all overflush to my wife towards her support and her family," the widow took the property subject to a trust for the family.

   • 1906, The Independent - Volume 60, page 1366:

     Every day there is an overflush that would be wasted but for the blessed tin can or the glass jar.

   • 1949, New Zealand. Parliament, Parliamentary Debates - Volume 282, page 2036:

     We have an overflush of money at present, but I hope to show the honourable member who is interesting himself in my affairs that the influence of money will dwindle rapidly.

   • 2017, Douglas Allen, Reconstructing William Allen 1711-1799, page 421:

     […] if my wife should marry then my will is that two thirds of my property not disposed of be sold and thirty pounds paid to each of my grand daughters Margaret Allen and Ivea Fox as they come of age and the other third to be sold at my wife's decease if the first sail amounts to sixty pound and any overflush of both sails to be equally divided between my four grand Children above named […]

2. An excess of something.
   • 1854 October, “Wild and Tame”, in Kentucky Garland, volume 1, number 1, page 42:

     Lady Albinia was allowed by all who knew her, to be one of the most admirable correctives to an overflush of youth .

   • 1875, Cyclopædia of American Literature, page 913:

     Of life and life's significant loveliness, Be reconcilement for the easy loss Of tendril graces that climb about the heart, And smother it with overflush of bloom.

   • 1898, William Edwards Tirebuck, Meg of the Scarlet Foot, page 189:

     Margit , you've an overflush of sense in your composition. You put two thoughts where common folk such as me can only crush in one .

   • 1899, New Zealand. Department of Agriculture, Report, page 69:

     This is attributed to too wet a season and consequent overflush of feed .

   • 2000, Tom Douglas, Basic Groupwork, page 76:

     Caution is necessary, for an overflush of imaginative enthusiasm can produce a situation in which the activity becomes an end in its own right rather than the means to an end.

   • 2018, David Todd Lawrence, Elaine J. Lawless, When They Blew the Levee:

     We were also so close together there, and if someone grew something and they got a flush of something, or an overflush of it, they'd call the next person and say, 'Would you want this or can you use some of this?

3. A flush that appears over something.
   1. A flush or tinge of color that appears over the base color.
      • 1876 April 21, Henry Hartshorne, “On Some Disputed Points in Physiological Optics”, in Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society, page 224:

        If the bright ground be moved to and fro, this overflush of color may be, sometimes beautifully, shown, following the line or edge of the moving mass of strong color; and most distinct near the edge.

      • 1959, G. C. K. Dunsterville, Leslie A. Garay, Venezuelan Orchids Illustrated, page 68:

        Sepals: Pale brown largely covered with maroon overflush.

      • 1943, Herbertia - Volumes 9-11, page 33:

        Persian Princess— Petals deep velvety red with overflush of purple.

      • 1986, Lindleyana, page 336:

        Pale greenish brown with heavy overflush of dark maroon-red at the base.

   2. A sudden rush of feeling that appears expressed in the face.
      • 1873 November, Margaret J. Preston, “Alpenglow”, in Scribner's Monthly: An Illustrated Magazine for the People, volume 7, number 1, page 63:

        While an overflush of marvellous grace Would master, a-sudden, all his face, Till the delicate nostril curved and swelled, and the glance an eloquent sparkle held, And a sense of song would come and go, Such as dreamers watched by Ariel know.

   3. A flush (series of obstacles to ski between) that covers a slope
      • 1983 January, Peter MIller, “Agony of a Ski Racer”, in Ski, volume 47, number 5, page 39:

        There was an overflush and I tried to run straight into it. Most racers set up before a flush and turn into it.

4. The act of overflushing.
   • 1899, Fourth Annual Message of Charles F. Warwick, Mayor of the City of Philadelphia- Volume 2, page 21:

     This increase of typhoid fever was attributed to an overflush of the intercepting sewer in November, 1897, in consequence of which sewage was discharged into the Schuylkill river near the intake of the Queen Lane Pumping Station.

   • 1915, William Babington Maxwell, The Ragged Messenger, page 128:

     Every now and then the outpouring of a house, or the overflush of a drain, sent a richly laden river flowing by , and then the children were busy and happy.

5. A displacement fluid that is forced into a system in order to clear out active fluids that are used in a treatment, such as fracking, desalinization, etc.
   • 1988, 4th Middle East Corrosion Conference: 11-13 January 1988, page 481:

     A treatment volume, in field usage is currently 1100 gals of chemical plus 10,000 bbls. of the aquifer water as an overflush.

   • 1995, Proceedings, International Meeting on Petroleum Engineering, page 63:

     The overflush consisted of 100 bbls of uncrosslinked 3000 ppm polymer, followed by one wellbore volume (~150 bbls) plus 450 bbls crude behind pipe.

   • 2022, Qiwei Wang, Flow Assurance, page 166:

     The first stage was 21.4 m³ crude oil preflush containing 2800-ppm paraffin dispersant, followed by 11.1 m³ treating mixture split into ten intervals with 0.5-m³ gelled oil pads followed by 19-m³ overflush containing 4000-ppm paraffin dispersant.

6. The act or process of forcing overflush into a system in order to clear out active fluids.
   • 1992, M.J. Economides, A Practical Companion to Reservoir Stimulation, page P-54:

     With this type of proppant transport, the proppant bank will not be destroyed during the overflush of the diverter.

   • 2016, James G. Speight, Handbook of Hydraulic Fracturing, page 83:

     On the other hand, overflush systems contain a high percentage of active resin, and an overflush is required to push the excess resin away from the wellbore area to reestablish permeability. Only a residual amount of resin saturation, which should be concentrated at the sand contact points, should remain following the overflush.

   • 2022, Younes Noorollahi, Muhammad Nihal Naseer, Muhammad Mobin Siddiqi, Utilization of Thermal Potential of Abandoned Wells, page 105:

     This method is also carried out in three main steps namely, preflush, main flush, and overflush.

Verb

overflush (third-person singular simple present overflushes, present participle overflushing, simple past and past participle overflushed)

1. To flush to excess.
   1. To flood with too much liquid while cleansing.
      • 1894, Henry J. Webb, Advanced Agriculture, page 537:

        It is a bad plan to overflush ewes, as they usually suffer more from loss of flesh during winter. The best plan is to get them fleshy, and then keep them thriving whilst with the ram.

      • 1988, Albert Marchant Pearson, Thayne R. Dutson, Edible Meat By-products, page 267:

        It is possible to overflush the casing and render it difficult to use. Too much soaking or flushing, or the use of water that is too hot, will remove some of the natural oils from the casings.

      • 1996, Annual Survey of International & Comparative Law, page 108:

        As part of the clean-up operations which took place on November 1, they were found guilty of having overflushed the scene of the accident during clearance work, which caused additional pollution of the Rhine.

      • 2014, Etienne Cote, Clinical Veterinary Advisor, page 1183:

        Catheter care includes flushing with 0.2-0.4 mL sterile heparinized saline every 6-8 hours if an infusion is not being administered through the needle. It is important not to overflush the system in small animals, causing systemic heparinization.

   2. To flush too many toilets.
      • 1865, David Urquhart, John Fife, Manual of the Turkish Bath, page 21:

        No substance goes out from you by perspiration, except the noxious matter that you ought to get rid of; and you might as well ask if the dinners of a city might not be diminished were its sewers overflushed.

      • 1879, The Journal of the British Homoeopathic Society - Volume 8, page 584:

        Again, children are more exposed to sewer-poisoning because they are kept indoors during "bad weather," just when the gases are rising into the house from the overflushed sewers.

      • 1880, Report of the Fourth Congress of the Sanitary Institute of Great Britain, page 142:

        It is possible to overflush, and so injure the sewers.

   3. To flood or inundate.
      • 1725, Weighley, alias Wild, page 8:

        But Men when overflush'd with Drink, Are feldom capable to think.

      • 1839, George Robert Wythen Baxter, Don Juan Junior: A Poem, page 64:

        I've seen that fiend-law's introduction, In spite of Fielden, Stanhope , Oastler and the good: – Its mildest aim, murder and seduction, To overflush our streets with agony and blood!

      • 1915, Katrina Trask, The Mighty and the Lowly, page 8:

        The protesting sects have pulled Him out of the shrine, smashing it in violent bitterness of hatred: they have overflushed Him with lusty blood, made Him hail-fellow walking amongst men, and they have brought Him into intimate hobnobbery with the multitude;

      • 1959, Dwight D. Eisenhower, President's Farm Message, 1959, page 242:

        But my interest in it is that I do not want to see the Commodity Credit Corporation flushing into an already overflushed market additional oil which only serves to help certain of the secondary processing companies, such as some of the large, oh, the companies that make this syntetic lard, what have you -- [laughter] you know, the vegetable oil.

2. To flush over.
   1. To cover with or suffuse with a tinge or glow of color.
      • 1854, The North British Review - Volume 20, page 149:

        […] still they have a fragrance of nature about them, and a freshness, such as Scottish noses snuff up from bleak moors and green fields, envying not at all the strong aroma that flows from exuberant fields overflushed with the living gold and purple of a rich tropical vegetation.

      • 1872, Rufus Wilmot Griswold, The Poets and Poetry of America, page 666:

        A listening, longing silence fell Upon the elm-trees like a spell Of expectation and desire, And quick I saw the impulsive fire Of sunset overflush the white And waiting clouds with rosy light;

      • 2008, Jack Stewart, Color, Space, and Creativity, page 74:

        I went down on the wide beach, where nobody was, because the stretches of sand are wet and chalky, and the rocks are rough and pooly -- only three shrimpers waded along the wonderful outspreading ruffling water, pushing their great nets before them, stopping, picking out the little objects, and moving on again through the marvellous green light overflushed with ruddy gleams.

   2. To cover the face with blushing or a flush.
      • 1820 December, “Recollections of Mark Macrabin, The Cameronian”, in Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, volume 8, page 328:

        When Bernard de Avelyne concluded his ballad of Chivalry, the brightness that overflushed his face became gradually darker, his palsied hands forsook the harp, he buried his face in his hands and his hoary hair, and seemed to labour under that bodily as well as mental depression which sometimes succeeds sudden unwonted exertion.

      • 1868, Robert Browning, Pauline. Paracelsus. Strafford., page 129:

        When first perceived Is there no sweet strife to forget, to change, To overflush those blemishes with all The glow of general goodness they disturb ?

      • 1902, James Russell Lowell, Early Prose Writings of James Russell Lowell, page 164:

        It does not defy death and futurity, for a doubt of its kingship over them never overflushed the majestic havir of its serene countenance.

      • 1916 October, Agnes Lee, “Red Pearls”, in The International, volume 10, number 10, page 310:

        But look, they change, they seem to overflush.

   3. To suffuse.
      • 1865, F.T. Palgrave, “Women and the Fine Arts”, in Macmillan's Magazine, volume 12, page 214:

        Men, it is true, have probably far exceeded them in the actual amount of verse overflushed with feeling which they have created.

      • 1898, John Addington Symonds, Horatio Forbes Brown, Sketches and Studies in Italy and Greece, page 86:

        Religion has evanished from this late Renaissance art, nor has the afterglow of Guido Reni's hectic piety yet overflushed it.

   4. To wash over.
      • 1867, M.T., “The Inquirer”, in The British Controversialist and Literary Magazine, page 224:

        As Eloquence vpon a trotting nagge Out-ambles Wisdom in a morris daunce, Or as the waves doe overflush the crag — Gie rocks of fortune on the shores of Fraunce;

      • 1915, Boston Medical and Surgical Journal - Volume 173, Issue 1, page 241:

        The acute, infectious cold, which is the basis of much later infection, could be rendered a far less potent cause of disorganization if all schoolrooms were overflushed with open air night and day.

3. To force overflush into a system in order to clear out the active fluids.
   • 1980, Margaret K. Luther, Proceedings of the Technical Sessions, page 18:

     Overflush with 150 barrels of water .

   • 1995, Proceedings, International Meeting on Petroleum Engineering, page 63:

     The larger volume of crude was pumped in an attempt to overflush the fracture as effectively as possible.

   • 2019, Hoss Belyadi, Ebrahim Fathi, Fatemeh Belyadi, Hydraulic Fracturing in Unconventional Reservoirs, page 68:

     But it is still recommended not to overflush in horizontal wells as there could be loss in near wellbore conductivity.

Adjective

overflush (comparative more overflush, superlative most overflush)

1. Too flush; having an excess of something (too much money if nothing else is specified)
   • 1848, William Makepeace Thackeray, Vanity Fair:

     You're a poor man, I dare say. You don't look as if you were overflush of money.

   • 1894, John Henton Carter, Duck Creek Ballads, page 132:

     He rode into town from the Brazos, and Meekly called for his supper and bed; A dark-eyed gent with a nervous hand And a belt overflush with cold lead.

   • 1973, United States. Congress. House. Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs. Subcommittee on the Environment, Regulation of Surface Mining, page 944:

     It would raise the permit from its nominal $6 an acre for the reclamation of orphan lands to what we considered a reasonable permit but not an overflush one, of $60 an acre.

   • 2012, S. T. Haymon, Death and the Pregnant Virgin:

     From what you've told me,he wasn't overflush.

   • 2020, Sir Percy Fitzpatrick, The Outspan, Tales of South Africa, page 9:

     You can imagine we were not overflush just then, and what puzzled us was what to give the chief as a present when he would accord us an interview.

2. Protruding or sticking out rather than flush and smooth.
   • 1937, Robert Phillips, Edward McChesney Sait, American Government and Its Problems, page 676:

     That is probably an overflush allusion .

   • 1987, United States. Congress. Senate. Committee on the Judiciary. Subcommittee on Patents, Copyrights, and Trademarks, The Industrial Innovation and Technology Act, page 77:

     Head lamp mounting surface shallow —head lamp bezel will be overflush to fender causing appearance and fit problems.

   • 2003, Car and Driver - Volume 48, page 125:

     The A-pillar, roof-rail, and C-pillar trim panels can be ordered in varying colors and styles — colorblind folks are even allowed to select silver on gold — but they look tacked on, overflush, and by design they do not align with other character lines and the hood and trunk shut-lines.

Adverb

overflush (comparative more overflush, superlative most overflush)

1. Beyond the level that is flush and smooth.
   • 1960, Iron and Steel Engineer - Volume 37, page 70:

     The last two to three layers or 14 in. of the groove is filled up slightly overflush using 316-in. hard rod.

   • 2007, Paul Dempsey, Troubleshooting and Repair of Diesel Engines, page 161:

     Minor imperfections (such as gasket frets and corrosion on the edges of water jacket holes,) should be brazed slightly overflush before the head is milled.