overquell

English edit

Etymology edit

From Middle English overquellen, equivalent to over- +‎ quell.

Verb edit

overquell (third-person singular simple present overquells, present participle overquelling, simple past and past participle overquelled)

(transitive) To quell or subdue completely; gain power over.
- c. 1600, John Ayliffe, Satires:
  What champion now shall tame the power Hell,
  And the unruly spirits overquell?

Part or all of this entry has been imported from the 1913 edition of Webster’s Dictionary, which is now free of copyright and hence in the public domain. The imported definitions may be significantly out of date, and any more recent senses may be completely missing.
(See the entry for “overquell”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.)