überspannen — meaning in English

English meaning

• overreach verb To reach above or beyond, especially to an excessive degree.
• span noun The distance or length between two points, edges, or supports.
• straddle verb To sit or stand with one leg on each side of something.

Senses

überspannen is used for these senses in English:

• overreach (ambitransitive, figuratively) To do something beyond an appropriate limit, or beyond one's ability; to overextend.
• span (transitive) To extend through the distance between or across.
• straddle (transitive) To be on both sides of something; to have parts that are in different places, regions, etc.

overreach — full definition

1. verb To reach above or beyond, especially to an excessive degree.
2. verb To defeat or override a person's interest in property; (UK, specifically) of a holder of the legal title of real property: by mortgaging or selling the legal title to a third party, to cause another person's equitable right in the property to be dissolved and to be replaced by an equitable right in the money received from the third party.
3. verb To do something beyond an appropriate limit, or beyond one's ability; to overextend.
4. verb Of a horse: to strike the heel of a forefoot with the toe of a hindfoot.

span — full definition

1. noun The distance or length between two points, edges, or supports.
2. noun A stretch or period of time.
3. verb To extend across or over something.

Related German words