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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.
  1. A big man wearing a black waterproof overall was standing looking after me!
    — from The Golden Scorpion by Sax Rohmer
  2. 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
  3. 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
  4. 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
  5. 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
  6. 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
  7. 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
  8. 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

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