n 1: the state of high or excessive activity or productivity or concentration; "Troops are ready to go into overdrive as soon as the signal is given"; "Melissa's brain was in overdrive" 2: a high gear used at high speeds to maintain the driving speed with less output power v 1: drive or work too hard; "The teacher is overworking his students"; "Overdriving people often suffer stress" 2: make use of too often or too extensively [syn: overuse, overdrive]
nounDate: 1926 1. an automotive transmission gear that transmits to the drive shaft a speed greater than engine speed 2. a state of heightened activity <going into rhetorical overdrive>
n. 1 a a mechanism in a motor vehicle providing a gear ratio higher than that of the usual gear. b an additional speed-increasing gear. 2 (usu. prec. by in, into) a state of high or excessive activity.
(overdrives) 1. The overdrive in a vehicle is a very high gear that is used when you are driving at high speeds. N-COUNT: usu sing, oft N n 2. If you go into overdrive, you begin to work very hard or perform a particular activity in a very intense way. In the courtroom everybody went into overdrive, assuming that there might well be a verdict soon.PHRASE: PHR after v