You can think of overdo as a line that has already been crossed. Something was working — the jokes, the salt, the exercise, the time on the heat — and then more was added, and the extra is what causes the damage. The word never says the thing itself was bad; it says there was too much of it, and it usually arrives after the harm is done.
From the word’s history
The supplied Wiktionary entry gives Middle English overdon, Old English oferdōn, equivalent to over- + do. The word is still exactly its two parts today: over- for past the right point, do for the action. Whatever follows it — an amount, an effort, a cooking time — is simply what got taken past that point.
本包的 Wiktionary 資料寫明它來自中古英語 overdon、古英語 oferdōn,結構就是 over- 加 do。這個字到今天仍然等於它的兩個部件:over- 是「超過那個剛好的點」,do 是「做」。後面接什麼,就是什麼被推過了那條線——份量、體力,或是在火上的時間。
Wiktionary entry for 'overdo' supplied in this packet (source_ref kaikki:3f6f69a190036ae4:195031718:29369)
登入就可以看每一支怎麼連回核心畫面。
原始詞典資料4 筆記錄
以下是外部詞典記錄的用法,摘錄並精簡格式,我們還沒有寫成教學內容。上面的說明才是我們自己寫的;有些用法可能上面已經講過了。
overdoverb/ˌəʊvəˈduː/
- 1
To do too much; to exceed what is proper or true in doing; to carry too far.
- I overdid the sweets during the holidays and put on some weight.
- […] o’erstep not the modesty of nature: for anything so overdone is from the purpose of playing, whose end […] is to hold, as ’twere, the mirror up to nature;
- 2
To cook for too long.
- to overdo the meat
- [He] talked of a feast where he had been the day before, but that the venison was over-done.
- 3
To give (someone or something) too much work; to require too much effort or strength of (someone); to use up too much of (something).
- to overdo one’s strength
- Good God! hovv poore a thing is vvretched man? / So fraile, that let him ſtriue the beſt he can, / VVith euery little blaſt hee’s ouerdon.
- 4
obsoleteTo do more than (someone); to do (something) to a greater extent.
- In a delicate Garden, where Art hath shewed it’s vtmost, yee shall meet with Roses, Gillyflowers, and Fountaines of Alabaster and Iasper; but thou wilt not so much admire this, as if thou shouldst light on these dainties in a Desert, or in some craggie Mountain, where the hand of nature shall ouerdoe that of art and Industrie.
- [...] it would be their shame for ever to be overdone in mischiefe, nor were they here exceeded.
摘錄自 英文維基詞典 English Wiktionary,已精簡格式;依 CC BY-SA 4.0 授權使用,改動後的內容同樣以此授權提供。