(~s, ~ning, overran)
1.
If an army or an armed force ~s a place, area, or country, it succeeds in occupying it very quickly.
A group of rebels overran the port area and most of the northern suburbs...
VERB: V n
2.
If you say that a place is ~ with things that you consider undesirable, you mean that there are a large number of them there.
The Hotel has been ordered to close because it is ~ by mice and rats...
Padua and Vicenza are prosperous, well-preserved cities, not ~ by tourists.
ADJ: v-link ADJ, usu ADJ with/by n
3.
If an event or meeting ~s by, for example, ten minutes, it continues for ten minutes longer than it was intended to.
Tuesday’s lunch overran by three-quarters of an hour...
The talks overran their allotted time.
VERB: V by n, V n, also V
4.
If costs ~, they are higher than was planned or expected. (BUSINESS)
We should stop the nonsense of taxpayers trying to finance new weapons whose costs always ~ hugely...
Costs overran the budget by about 30%.
VERB: V, V n
•
Overrun is also a noun.
He was stunned to discover cost ~s of at least $1 billion.
N-COUNT: usu n N