Overdrive

Origin

From over + drive + + . Cognate with Norwegian overdrive ("to exaggerate") and Dutch overdrijven ("to exaggerate").

Full definition of overdrive

Noun

1. (dated) A gear, on an automobile, higher than the normal top gear.
• 1981, Oct, Cruising in overdrive at legal highway speed keeps rpm right at 1800, depending on rear-axle ratio.
2. A state of heightened activity.
• 2000, w, The ground beneath her feet, It is true, though it's got nothing to do with me, that the building boom that created the Bombay of my childhood went into overdrive in the years before my birth

Verb

1. (transitive) To drive too hard, or far, or beyond strength.----