overtax

English

Etymology

From over- +‎ tax.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˌəʊvə(ɹ)ˈtæks/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Verb

overtax (third-person singular simple present overtaxes, present participle overtaxing, simple past and past participle overtaxed)

1. To tax to an excessive degree.
2. To overburden.

   The overtaxed shaft snapped.

   • 1837, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], “A London Life”, in Ethel Churchill: Or, The Two Brides. […], volume I, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC, page 160:

     Again, that lonely taper, how often is it the companion and sign of studies for which the day is too short—studies that steal the gloss from the sunny hair, and the light from the over-taxed eye!

   • 1963 January, “New in Japan: Tokaido line trials”, in Modern Railways, page 44:

     The 310-mile Tokaido line is being built from Tokyo to Osaka, through the most densely populated and heavily industrialised area of the country, to relieve the existing 340-mile 3ft 6in gauge line, which is overtaxed by continually increasing traffic.

Translations

to tax to an excessive degree

• French: surtaxer (fr)
• Greek: υπερφορολογώ (el) (yperforologó)
• Hungarian: túladóztat (hu)

to overburden

• Hungarian: túlterhel (hu), túlerőltet (hu), megerőltet (hu)