OVERHEAT

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does overheat mean? 

• OVERHEAT (verb)
  The verb OVERHEAT has 2 senses:

1. get excessively and undesirably hot

2. make excessively or undesirably hot

  Familiarity information: OVERHEAT used as a verb is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• OVERHEAT (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they overheat    ... he / she / it overheats   
Past simple: overheated   
Past participle: overheated   
-ing form: overheating   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Get excessively and undesirably hot

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Context example:

The car engines overheated

Hypernyms (to "overheat" is one way to...):

heat; heat up; hot up (gain heat or get hot)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s

Derivation:

overheating (excessive heating)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Make excessively or undesirably hot

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Context example:

The room was overheated

Hypernyms (to "overheat" is one way to...):

heat; heat up (make hot or hotter)

Cause:

overheat (get excessively and undesirably hot)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s something

Derivation:

overheating (excessive heating)

 Context examples 

Issue associated with the device producing high temperatures, such that its operation is compromised (e.g. overheating that produces melting of components or automatic shutdown).

(Overheating of Medical Device or Device Component, Food and Drug Administration)

There may also be itching, especially when overheated.

(Pityriasis Rosea, NCI Thesaurus)

But this could also backfire in a "runaway greenhouse" process, in which the atmosphere becomes so thick the planet surface overheats – as on Venus.

(TRAPPIST-1 is Older Than Our Solar System, NASA/JPL)

By eliminating the movement of charge, any such device would need less power and be less prone to overheating – removing some of the most significant obstacles to further improving computer efficiency.

(Certain organic semiconducting materials can transport spin faster than they conduct charge, University of Cambridge)

Samsung offered replacement units to all of its customers, before reports resurfaced of overheating with the new devices, raising fresh doubts about the firm's quality control abilities

(Samsung Ends Production of Problem-Plagued Galaxy Note 7, Voanews)

South Korean electronics giant Samsung says it will no longer manufacture its troubled Galaxy Note 7 smartphone after numerous reports around the globe of overheating.

(Samsung Ends Production of Problem-Plagued Galaxy Note 7, Voanews)