Overis apreposition, adverb, adjective or prefix.
Overas a preposition
Overfor movement and position
We useoverto talk about movement or position at a higher level than something else:
A beautiful white bird flewoverthe lake.
With an umbrellaovermy head, I was able to protect myself from the midday sun.
We can also useoverwhen talking about movement across a surface:
A small boat cameoverthe lake and approached our cottage.
Shall we gooverthe road and see if there’s a bank on the other side?
Overandall over
We can useover, and the stronger formall over, when something is covering something:
You can buy a plastic cover to putoveryour computer if you’re worried about dust.
He had mudall overhis face.
Overfor periods of time
We can useoverto refer to extended periods of time:
Overa period of three centuries, very little changed in the pattern of life for the poorest people.
What are you doingoverthe summer holidays? Are you going away?
Overwith numbers
Overmeans ‘more than’ a particular number, or limit:
There wereover100 people at the lecture.
If your hand baggage weighsover10 kilos, you must check it in.
She couldn’t enter the competition. She wasoverthe age limit.
Overas an adverb
We canuseoveras an adverb to talk about movement above something or someone:
We were sitting in the garden and a huge flock of geese flewover. It was beautiful.
Overas an adverb can mean ‘to someone’s house’:
Would you like to comeoverand have dinner one evening?(to the speaker’s house)
Over and over(adverb phrase)
Over and overmeans ‘repeatedly’, ‘many times’. It often refers to things which people do not want to happen:
[adult to a little child]
Stop it! I’ve told youover and overnot to play with the radio!
Overas an adjective:be over
Wecan usebe overto mean ‘finished’, ‘at an end’:
We were so late that, when we got to the cinema, the film wasover.
Overas a prefix
We can useoveras a prefix to mean ‘too much’. We connectoverto the word which comes after it, sometimes with a hyphen afterover:
That new restaurant isoverpricedif you ask me.(the meals are too expensive)
I didn’t enjoy the play. It was a student production, and everyone seemed to beoveracting.
These are the main meanings ofoverbut you will find other meanings and phrasal verbs withoverin a good learner’s dictionary.
See also:
Above
Under
Over: typical errors
Over, when used with periods of time, refers to the period from start tofinish,not to any one moment during that time:
I arrived during the afternoon.
Not:I arrived over the afternoon.
Overas a prefix meaning ‘too much’ is connected to the word that comes after it, sometimes with a hyphen; we don’t write two separate words:
The nightclub wasovercrowded.
Not:The nightclub was over crowded.