overbrim means to flow over the brim of; to overflow. It carries an Arena rating of 1761, earned across 76 head-to-head judged battles.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, overbrim ranks #1,742 of 17,126 for Most Elegant Words, #1,813 of 17,130 for Most Beautiful Words, #2,221 of 17,142 for Most Ingenious Words, #3,005 of 17,140 for Most Whimsical Words.
Why “overbrim” is a great word
OVERBRIM — [Verb] To flow over the brim of a container; to be so full as to overflow. From the English prefix over- ("above, beyond") + brim ("the edge or rim of a vessel"). Unlike brim, which describes a state of being filled exactly to the top, or overflow, a more general term for liquid exceeding any boundary, overbrim captures the precise moment of transgression at a defined lip. It is the slow, glistening cascade of cream from a too-full pitcher, the hot milk that swells and runs down the saucepan's side, or the tear that hesitates before tracing a warm path down a cheek—the instant a held fullness breaks the shape of its vessel, a quiet testament that containment is always a temporary fiction.
Etymology
From over- + brim.
verb
- To flow over the brim of; to overflow.e.g.“And still more, later flowers for the bees,
Until they think warm days will never cease,
For Summer has o'er-brimm'd their clammy cells.” — 1819 September 19, John Keats, “To Autumn”, in Lamia, Isabella, the Eve of St. Agnes, and Other Poems, London: […] [Thomas Davison] for Taylor and Hessey, […], published 1820, →OCLC, stanza 1, page 13
- To be so full as to overflow.e.g.“And all the while, methought, his voice did swim,
As if it drowned in remembrance were
Of thoughts which make the moist eyes overbrim: […]” — 1817 December, Percy Bysshe Shelley, “The Revolt of Islam. […]”, in [Mary] Shelley, editor, The Poetical Works of Percy Bysshe Shelley. […], volume I, London: Edward Moxon […], published 1839, →OCLC,
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
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