Overworkとは 意味・読み方・使い方

発音

• (Received Pronunciation) enPR: ō'və-wûkʹ, IPA: /ˌəʊvəˈwɜːk/
• (General American, Canada) enPR: ō'vər-wûrkʹ, IPA: /ˌoʊvɚˈwɝk/
• 韻: -ɜː(ɹ)k

動詞

overwork (third-person singular simple present overworks, present participle overworking, simple past and past participle overworked or (archaic) overwrought)

1. (transitive) To make (someone or something) work too hard.

   to overwork a horse

   • 1945 November snd December, Cecil J. Allen, “British Locomotive Practice and Performance”, in Railway Magazine, page 329:

     For some years locomotives and coaches have been overworked and undermaintained to a degree without precedent in British railway history, and the leeway in maintenance now to be made up is very great.

   • 2007 February 18, Jake Mooney, “A Case of the Shivers”, in The New York Times‎, archived from the original on 26 November 2022:

     The cracking sound, he explained, as far as I, a non-plumber, could understand, was the sound of the overworked, undermaintained and weirdly installed heating unit’s core rupturing and spilling water into the basement.

   • 2019 August 10, Harmeet Kaur, “The most overworked cities in the US might surprise you”, in CNN‎, archived from the original on 27 August 2020:

     If you live in Washington D.C., Houston or Atlanta, it might be time to take a vacation.
     Those three cities, followed by Seattle and Chicago, are the most overworked cities in the United States, according to a study released by the mobile technology company Kisi this past week.

   • 2019 September 26, Sandee LaMotte, “Too much exercise could lead to bad decisions on what you eat and buy”, in CNN‎, archived from the original on 2 March 2025:

     It turns out that overworking your brain with either physical or mental exercise may lower your ability to delay self-gratification.

   • 2021 January 13, Laura He and Nectar Gan, “Pinduoduo under fire as China turns on its tech titans”, in CNN Business‎, archived from the original on 6 February 2025:

     One of China’s most prominent e-commerce companies is facing intense public backlash over allegations that it overworks its employees.

2. (intransitive) To work too hard.
3. (transitive) To fill too full of work; to crowd with labour.
   • 1874, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, The Aigalades:

     My days with toil are overwrought.

4. (transitive) To decorate all over.

語源 2

From 中期英語 overwerc, from 古期英語 oferweorc, oferġeweorc (“an overwork, superstructure, tomb”), equivalent to over- +‎ work.

発音

• (Received Pronunciation) enPR: ōʹvə-wûk', IPA: /ˈəʊvəˌwɜːk/
• (General American, Canada) enPR: ōʹvər-wûrk', IPA: /ˈoʊvɚˌwɝk/

名詞

overwork (uncountable)

1. A superstructure.
2. Excessive work.
   • 1878, Phosphorus in functional disorders of the nervous system, induced by overwork and other influences incidental to modern life:

     Various disordered conditions consequent upon overwork, which are characteristic of modern civilisation.

   • 1888, Rudyard Kipling, “The Phantom Rickshaw”, in The Phantom 'Rickshaw and Other Tales, Allahabad: A.H. Wheeler and Co., page 8:

     He says that more men are killed by overwork than the importance of this world justifies. He maintains that overwork slew Pansay who died under his hands about three years ago.

   • 1946 July and August, K. Westcott Jones, “Isle of Wight Central Railway—2”, in Railway Magazine, page 244:

     […] it had obtained from its constituents rather antiquated and inefficient equipment, which scarcely stood up to overwork; […] .

   • 1996, Wilkie Au, Urgings of the Heart: A Spirituality of Integration:

     When it comes to overwork, denial looms large.

   • 2003, Ernie J Zelinski, Joy of Not Working: A Book for the Retired, Unemployed, and Overworked:

     The Japanese term for sudden death from overwork.

   • 2018 November 4, Jake Kwon and Alexandra Field, “South Koreans are working themselves to death. Can they get their lives back?”, in CNN‎, archived from the original on 13 January 2025:

     In July, the government legislated to reduce the maximum working hours from a staggering 68 per week to 40, with 12 hours of paid overtime, in what President Moon Jae-in said would be an “important opportunity to move away from a society of overwork and move toward a society of spending time with families.”

参考

• overtime

Further reading

• “overwork”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1911), “overwork”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.

アナグラム

• work over, workover