Overdrive is a state of working far harder than usual. Go into overdrive, in overdrive, working in overdrive.
The figurative sense is much the commoner: the press went into overdrive, her imagination in overdrive. In cars, overdrive is a gear ratio above direct drive, letting the engine turn slower than the wheels at speed — which saves fuel and is now built into ordinary top gears. In guitar effects, overdrive is a mild distortion. Note that the compound is Old English in origin.
1nounoverdriveA state of working far harder than usual.
“Before the wedding, my mother went into overdrive, cleaning and cooking for days.”
2noungearA gear ratio above direct drive.
“Overdrive cuts engine speed by roughly a quarter.”
overdrive is a heightened state, or a gear.
Old English oferdrifan is over plus drive. Dutch overdrijven, meaning to exaggerate, is the same compound taking a different sense.
Old English
oferdrīfan
Middle English
overdriven
English, today
overdrive
From Middle English overdriven, from Old English oferdrīfan, equivalent to over- + drive. Cognate with stq uurdrieuwe (“to overdo, overstate”), Dutch overdrijven (“to exaggerate”), German Low German overdrieven, överdrieven (“to overdo, exaggerate”), German übertreiben (“to overdo, exaggerate”), Norwegian overdrive (“to exaggerate”).
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA