overwind

verb

1. (transitive)To wind (tighten a spring of) something excessively.

   “People also come in full of misgivings about "overwinding" their watches. "You can't overwind a watch - you can only underwind it," said McKelvey.”

   “In a typical Morris cock-snook at classical technique, tutu-ed dancers prance Bambi-like across the stage. On and off, on and off, with fixed smiles like overwound clockwork dolls: it should have been charming and funny, but despite stylish individual efforts, the ragged ensemble meant the joke fell flat.”

   “I met him 10 years ago in a hallway in Harrisburg and departed with the image of a man whose psyche approximated a badly overwound clock: Everything is tight and in place, but nothing's moving.”

2. (intransitive)To twist (itself) more tightly.

   “DNA's helical structure implies that twisting and stretching should be coupled, hence the prediction that DNA should unwind when stretched […] That is why it was such surprise when we directly measured twist-stretch coupling to find instead DNA overwinds when stretched.”

noun

1. Synonym of overwinding.

   “They are intended to prevent the cage falling back in case the rope breaks or in case an overwind occurs.”

2. (countable, rare, uncountable)Excessive wind; a movement of such atmospheric air caused by air pressure.
3. (countable, uncountable)A wind that moves over or above an object.