Library / English Dictionary

OVERHEAR

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

Irregular inflected form: overheard   

 I. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Hear, usually without the knowledge of the speakers

Example:

We overheard the conversation at the next table

Synonyms:

catch; overhear; take in

Classified under:

Verbs of seeing, hearing, feeling

Hypernyms (to "overhear" is one way to...):

hear (perceive (sound) via the auditory sense)

"Overhear" entails doing...:

listen (hear with intention)

Verb group:

catch; get (perceive by hearing)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s somebody INFINITIVE

Sentence example:

They overhear that there was a traffic accident

Credits

 Context examples: 

"Don't speak so loud, or you will be overheard—and I should be ruined. I'm supposed to be a Great Wizard."

(The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, by L. Frank Baum)

The news of what had happened soon spread through the town; insomuch that as I passed along the streets next morning, I overheard the people speaking of it at their doors.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

I overheard Henderson and another of the hunters, Standish, a Californian, talking about it.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

I wish you could have overheard her tribute of praise; I wish you could have seen her countenance, when she said that you should be Henry's wife.

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)

This was all overheard by Miss Dashwood; and in the whole of the sentence, in his manner of pronouncing it, and in his addressing her sister by her Christian name alone, she instantly saw an intimacy so decided, a meaning so direct, as marked a perfect agreement between them.

(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)

I guessed there was some mischief when I observed my master and his friend whispering together, sometimes pointing at me; and my fears made me fancy that I overheard and understood some of their words.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)

We have been privileged to overhear a prehistoric tragedy, the sort of drama which occurred among the reeds upon the border of some Jurassic lagoon, when the greater dragon pinned the lesser among the slime, said Challenger, with more solemnity than I had ever heard in his voice.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Her innocent friendship with Laurie was spoiled by the silly speeches she had overheard.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

Seats tolerably in the shade were found; and now Emma was obliged to overhear what Mrs. Elton and Jane Fairfax were talking of.

(Emma, by Jane Austen)

But when I remembered the talk I had overheard from the apple barrel, all pity left me.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)