different between oversweep vs oversleep

English

Etymology

over- +? sweep

Verb

oversweep (third-person singular simple present oversweeps, present participle oversweeping, simple past and past participle overswept)

1. (transitive) To sweep over; to cover by sweeping.
   • 1817, John Keats, I stood tip-toe upon a little hill

     Ah, sure no tasteful nook would be without them
     And let a lush laburnum oversweep them,
     And let long grass grow round the roots to keep them
     Moist, cool and green; and shade the violets
     That they may bind the moss in leafy nets.

English

Etymology

over- +? sleep

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /???v???sli?p/

Verb

oversleep (third-person singular simple present oversleeps, present participle oversleeping, simple past and past participle overslept)

1. (intransitive) To sleep for longer than intended. [from 14th c.]

   I overslept and was late for school.

2. (reflexive, now rare) To sleep for longer than one intended. [from 15th c.]
   • 1748, Samuel Richardson, Clarissa, Letter 81:

     [A]fter such a train of fatigue and restless nights, I had unhappily overslept myself […].

   • 1764, Horace Walpole, The Castle of Otranto, IV:

     Theodore made awkward excuses, and attributed his delay to having overslept himself.

   • 1908, Kenneth Grahame, The Wind in the Willows:

     The following morning, Toad, who had overslept himself as usual, came down to breakfast disgracefully late, [...].

3. (transitive) To sleep beyond (a given time), to sleep through (an event etc.). [from 16th c.]

   to oversleep one's usual hour of rising

Related terms

• sleep in
• sleep it out

Antonyms

• undersleep

Translations

Anagrams

• overpeels, sleep over, sleepover