overfierce
adjUK /ˌəʊvəˈfɪəs/ · US /ˌoʊvɚˈfɪɹs/
Etymology From over- + fierce.
1
Rare Excessively fierce; overly ferocious.
- So he wrote to the squire, showing the letter to Catherine when it was done, lest there should be anything overfierce in it. It was the simple record of twelve months’ experience told with dignity and feeling. Henslowe was barely mentioned in it, and the chief burden of the letter was to implore the squire to come and inspect certain portions of his property with his own eyes. The rector would be at his service any day or hour.1888, Mrs. Humphry Ward, Robert Elsmere, Hurst and Company, page 281:
- In other respects also his book is a severe and overfierce indictment against the century for its still-continued failures and its wonderful achievements and correspondingly wonderful advantages.1898, Mrs. Humphry Ward, The Chicago Daily Tribune 1898-11-04: Volume 57, Issue 303, Hurst and Company, page 8:
4 more examples
- To-morrow (Friday), about eleven o'clock, let there be a good (not an overfierce) fire lighted in both rooms ; have everything well dusted, and remove the coverings from the furniture, taking especial care not to scratch the gilding, or to soil or burn the carpet while lighting the fires.1899, Eugène Sue, The Mysteries of Paris, National Library Company, page 266:
- Even when the Indian brandished his tomahawk and seized the visited one by the hair of the head, it never seemed to be anything more than might be expected, nor did he ever appear overfierce in his threats and gestures.1900-1915, Alice Morse Earle, Stage-Coach and Tavern Days, The Macmillan Company, page 410:
- Overfierce crane and wheels skidding; contactor adjustment and additional resistance required.1946, Richard Alfred West, Electric Traction for Cranes, Sir Issac Newton & Sons Limited, page 70:
- Wasn’t this suspicion of what was to happen in the very air everybody breathed, in the way each person looked at the other, in Winifred’s overfierce confidence and bragging defiance, and in Wilders’s solemn or hangdog, dispirited mien.1970, James Purdy, Jeremy's Version, Jonathan Cape, →ISBN, page 230: