overhear
/oʊ.vɚˈhɪɚ/ verb B2- To hear something that was not meant for one's ears. · I was hanging clothes in the garden and I overheard the neighbours talking about Sheila's pregnancy.
He/she/it overhears · Past overheard · Past participle overheard · -ing form overhearing
Verb forms
- Base form
- overhear
- He/she/it
- overhears
- Past
- overheard
- Past participle
- overheard
- -ing form
- overhearing
An irregular verb: learn its past and past participle by heart.
From the library
Andrea; we can chat better in-doors, and there is no coachman to overhear our conversation.”
Then the king, who, without our suspecting it, had overheard our conversation, interrupted us by saying, ‘Villefort’—observe that the king did not pronounce the word Noirtier, but, on the contrary, placed considerable emphasis on that of Villefort—‘Villefort,’ said his majesty, ‘is a young man of great judgment and discretion, who will be sure to make a figure in his profession; I like him much, and it gave me great pleasure to hear that he was about to become the son-in-law of the Marquis and Marquise de Saint-Méran.
“Don’t speak so loud, or you will be overheard—and I should be ruined.
Noirtier—for it was, indeed, he who entered—looked after the servant until the door was closed, and then, fearing, no doubt, that he might be overheard in the antechamber, he opened the door again, nor was the precaution useless, as appeared from the rapid retreat of Germain, who proved that he was not exempt from the sin which ruined our first parents.
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