Other forms: overalls
Overall means taking everything into account. The overall result, overall responsibility, overall it went well.
It signals a summary and it is often the last word anybody reads in a report. As a noun, overalls are the one-piece work garment, and the singular an overall is a British word for a coat worn over clothes. The two senses are the same word.
1adjectiveoverallTaking everything into account.
“The overall cost of the holiday was lower than we expected.”
2noungarmentA garment worn over other clothes.
“The nurse put on a clean white overall before entering the lab.”
overall is a summary, or a garment.
Also accepted in games: all things considered, on balance
Old English ofer eall means over all. The garment is named for covering everything worn beneath.
Old English
ofer eall
Middle English
overall
English, today
overall
Built from
From Middle English overall, overal, from Old English ofer eall, ofer ealle (“over all”), equivalent to over + all. Compare stq oural, uural (“everywhere”), West Frisian oeral (“everywhere”), Dutch overal (“everywhere”), German Low German overall, överall (“everywhere; all over”), German überall (“all over; everywhere”), Danish overalt (“everywhere”), Swedish överallt (“everywhere; overall”).
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA