Overling
Origin
From over + -ling on analogy with underling, or as a revived or dialectal term from Middle English overling ("a superior"), equivalent to over + -ling.
Full definition of overling
Noun
overling
(plural overlings)- (rare) A superior.
- 1917, Rudyard Kipling, Mesopotamia (poem)But the idle-minded overlings who quibbled while they died, ...
- 1973, Thomas Pynchon, Reflex laughs from the underlings present, though only grim smiles from the overlings.
- (UK dialectal) A ruler; master.