Language: en
Meaning: (transitive,idiomatic,originallyUK,regional)Chiefly inover-egg the pudding: tospoil(something) byexaggeratingit, or anaspectof it; tooverdo.Synonyms:gild the lily,go overboard,take too far1839September, Nimrod [pseudonym;Charles James Apperley], “A Hunting Tour in the Midland Counties: The Quorn: The Belvoir: And the Cottesmore”, in Craven [pseudonym;John William Carleton], editor,The Sporting Review, a Monthly Chronicle of the Turf, the Chase, and Rural Sports in All Their Varieties, London:Rudolph Ackermann,[…],→OCLC,page187:But hard riding men, in strange countries, are apt now and then toover-eggthe pudding, as the Yorkshire landlord told his Grace of Cleveland.1983October 8, Ian Davidson, “As they were[review ofKissinger: The Price of Powerby Seymour M. Hersh]”, inFinancial Times, number29,140, London:The Financial Times Ltd.,→ISSN,→OCLC,page12, column 3:[Seymour]Hershvilifies the[Richard]Nixon–[Henry]Kissingerteam for the way they adapted the handling of the Vietnam "peace" talks to the sordid claims of the presidential election time-table, but heover-eggsthe omelette. It is reasonable to criticise them for having pretended to the American people (and perhaps themselves) that there was some way to negotiate a peace which would preserve the independence of south Vietnam. It is not reasonable to argue, as Hersh does, that the U.S. might have been able to bomb its way to such a durable peace in the spring of 1973, if the White House had not been hamstrung by the debilitating effects of the Watergate scandal.1991, Glen Balfour-Paul, “Comparisons, without Odium”, inThe End of Empire in the Middle East: Britain’s Relinquishment of Power in Her Last Three Arab Dependencies, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire:Cambridge University Press, published1992,→ISBN,page162:[M]any British officials, asDavid Holdendeduced from conversations with them in the Crescent bar in the mid-fifties, were 'afflicted with a familiar form of colonial myopia known as localitis' –[…]Maybe Holden slightlyovereggsthe pudding.1997, Vivien Allen, chapter 24, inHall Caine: Portrait of a Victorian Romancer, Sheffield, South Yorkshire:Sheffield Academic Press,→ISBN,page353:[Hall]Caineover-eggsthe omelette but it is still a strong story.2014July 26, “Argentina’s debt saga: Unsettling times: The clock is ticking toward an Argentine default”, inThe Economist[1], London:The Economist Group,→ISSN,→OCLC, archived fromthe originalon25 July 2023:NML[Capital]insists Argentina isovereggingthe RUFO[rights upon future offers]worry: given that the country has appealed its case all the way up to the Supreme Court and been rebuffed, a judge is unlikely to deem any deal "voluntary".2017December 22, Laura Cappelle, “2 French playwrights reclaim their works, bringing them home”, inThe New York Times[2], New York, N.Y.:The New York Times Company,→ISSN,→OCLC, archived fromthe originalon23 August 2024:The men[inPascal Rambert's playActrice(2015)]fare less well: The husbands of both sistersovereggtheir Russian accents, with Jakob Öhrman, as the boisterous Pavel, left to utter inanities including, "The truth is in my alcoholism."2019August 15,Bob Stanley, “‘Groovy, groovy, groovy’: Listening to Woodstock 50 years on – all 38 discs”, inKatharine Viner, editor,The Guardian[3], London:Guardian News & Media,→ISSN,→OCLC, archived fromthe originalon8 May 2024:Janis Joplinsounds unerringly likeRay Stevens' Bridget the Midget in places. WhileRaise Your Handis a pretty undeniable Stax-on-helium workout, her version of theBee Gees'To Love Somebodyisoveregged.
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