Etymology From Middle English overweninge, equivalent to overween + -ing. Cognate with obsolete Dutch overwanig, overwaand (“presumptuous; cocky; conceited”).
1
Unduly confident; (sometimes also) arrogant.
She wins one modeling contest in Montana and suddenly she’s overweening.
Heere's an ouer-weening rogue.c. 1601–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “Twelfe Night, or What You Will”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene v], page 263, column 2:
4 more examples
The offer freely given was freely accepted, this gentleman already standing high in their opinion from his conduct to the Count; nor could they doubt that Lady Anne had lost herself many years of pleasant, and probably profitable intercourse with him, from her own acrimony of temper and overweening pride of manners;[…]1842, [anonymous collaborator of Letitia Elizabeth Landon], chapter LXIII, in Lady Anne Granard; or, Keeping up Appearances. […], volume III, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC, page 175:
No success rendered him overweening and no disaster was ever known to stagger his firmness.1870, Carl Schurz, George H. Thomas Eulogy:
The Senate was displaying an overweening hauteur as if it were the government.1908, Frederic Bancroft, William A. Dunning, A Sketch of Carl Schurz’s Political Career:
The Valley prizes overweening ambition but expects it to be “rifle-focussed” on making the world’s best houseboat-rental platform or Cognac-delivery service.2016 October 3, Tad Friend, “Sam Altman’s Manifest Destiny”, in The New Yorker:
2
Exaggerated, excessive.
The idea that an overweening federal government is a threat to both freedom and equality (not to mention prosperity) goes back to Jefferson, James Madison, Patrick Henry and some other fairly respectable personages.2015 January 4, Jonathan Rauch, “How to Make Men Free”, in NY Times:
Etymology From Middle English overweninge, equivalent to overween + -ing.
1
Archaic An excessively high opinion of oneself or one’s abilities; presumption, arrogance.
Let us suppresse this over-weening [translating cuider], the first foundation of the tyrannie of the wicked spirit[…].1603, Michel de Montaigne, chapter 12, in John Florio, transl., The Essayes […], book II, London: […] Val[entine] Simmes for Edward Blount […], →OCLC, page 258: