Origin: Germanic Old English prefix
Overtime has 7 different meanings across 3 categories:
Noun · Adverb · Prep_phrase
work done in addition to regular working hours
"The team stayed late to finish the project, putting in several hours of overtime before going home."
playing time beyond regulation, to break a tie
"The soccer match went into overtime after neither team could score during regular play to decide the winner."
Working time outside of one's regular hours.
"The factory workers stayed late to finish their project, earning extra pay for the overtime they completed."
In plain English: Overtime is extra work done beyond your regular hours, usually for more pay.
"She stayed late to finish her project and worked an extra hour of overtime."
Usage: Use the noun form to refer specifically to paid work performed beyond your standard schedule or shift. This term is distinct from its verb meaning, which describes measuring something incorrectly by taking too much time.
To measure something incorrectly, as taking more time than it actually did.
"The mechanic was accused of billing overtime on a repair that only took twenty minutes."
In plain English: To work extra hours beyond your regular schedule is to overtime.
"The manager had to stay late and work overtime to finish the project before the deadline."
Exceeding regular working hours.
"The manager refused to approve overtime because the project was already ahead of schedule."
In plain English: Overtime means doing work after your regular hours have ended.
"They worked overtime to finish the project before the deadline."
Misspelling of over time.
"The teacher corrected my spelling mistake, noting that I had written "overtime" instead of the phrase "over time.""
The word overtime is a straightforward combination of the prefix over- and the noun time. It was first used to describe work performed beyond normal hours, keeping its core meaning intact from that initial usage.