overindulge
verbEtymology From over- + indulge.
1
Ambitransitive To indulge to excess.
- Many well formed and well fed bodies over-indulge in sensuality, take little or no exercise, and remain sickly throughout life ; many well formed minds, over-indulge in mere gossip, frivolous conversations, and reading novels, take no serious thought or study, and remain common-place through life; or worse than common-place, being more or less intensely perverted in proportion to original endowments of mental capacity.1871, Hugh Doherty, Organic Philosophy; Or, Man's True Place in Nature...: Outlines of biology ..., Trübner & Co., pages 448–449:
- Children who overindulge in sweets often lose flesh, partly because an undue amount of sugar overtaxes the eliminative organs and upsets the bodily machinery.1921, M.V. O'Shea, Mental Development and Education, MacMillan Company, page 29:
1 more example
- As the parent of one child, it may be most tempting for you to overindulge your youngster with things.1998, Patricia A. Nachman, Ph.D., You and Your Only Child: The Joys, Myths, and Challenges of Raising an Only Child, Skylight Press, page 90
- Derived terms
- overindulger