Literary notes about Overall (AI summary)
The term "overall" serves a dual function in literature, appearing both as a noun and as an adjective to convey distinct meanings. As a noun, it designates a specific type of garment—a durable full-body suit—often worn by characters in adventurous settings or during manual labor, as illustrated by its depiction as a waterproof suit [1] or part of a working outfit [2, 3]. As an adjective, however, "overall" operates to describe a comprehensive or aggregate quality, whether referring to the general effect of a design [4], summarizing total measurements [5, 6], or even encapsulating entire strategies and systems [7, 8]. This versatility in usage allows the word to fluidly address both concrete, physical descriptions and abstract, evaluative characteristics within a narrative.
- A big man wearing a black waterproof overall was standing looking after me!
— from The Golden Scorpion by Sax Rohmer - I stuck on his flat blue hat and his white overall, picked up the cans, banged my door, and went whistling downstairs.
— from The Thirty-Nine Steps by John Buchan - He was a young man about my own height, with an ill-nourished moustache, and he wore a white overall.
— from The Thirty-Nine Steps by John Buchan - The overall effect was to decrease the mobility of people.
— from Our Legal Heritage : 600-1776 King Aethelbert - King George III by S. A. Reilly - As a rule, the straight-bottom canoes were small, commonly between 12 and 18 feet overall, and the most popular size was 14 to 16 feet overall.
— from The Bark Canoes and Skin Boats of North America by Tappan Adney - The overall wheelbase is 46 feet, 5 inches, the overall length 56 feet, 10 inches.
— from The First Quarter-Century of Steam Locomotives in North America
Remaining Relics and Operable Replicas with a Catalog of Locomotive Models in the U. S. National Museum. United States National Museum Bulletin 210 by Smith Hempstone Oliver - Penal Institutions The Ministry of Justice is responsible for the overall administration, activities, and security of prisons.
— from Area Handbook for Bulgaria by Eugene K. Keefe - The overall mission of dental units to provide dental services is greatly affected in the aftermath of an NBC attack.
— from Health Service Support in a Nuclear, Biological, and Chemical Environment
Tactics, Techniques, and Procedures by United States. Department of the Army