293. ¿Qué significa over?

En su significado más básico, over expresa una idea de posición o de desplazamiento de un lado a otro. Esto suele ir combinado con la noción de ‘estar arriba’:

Mary gently placed a blanket over the children as they slept.

Put your hand over your mouth when you cough, Michael.

Elliot and Greg walked over the bridge, stopping to look at the river.

The plane was circling over the city for hours waiting to land.

The hotel looks over the valley of Ribblesdale.

I can’t hear you over the music! Let’s go outside.

Como ilustra este último ejemplo, el significado de ‘cruzar’ a menudo se aplica a la comunicación. Comparte este significado con across, que podría sustituir a over en los dos siguientes ejemplos:

Gertie’s English may not be perfect, but she gets her ideas over very clearly (comunica las ideas claramente).

Steve is worried he didn’t come over well in the interview because he was nervous (no comunicó bien sus aptitudes).

Volviendo a un significado más físico de ‘cruzar’, cuando no se especifica lo que se está cruzando, la idea es que se está produciendo una aproximación física a algo:

The waiter came over and took our drinks order about half an hour ago.

Claude called us over to the large table where he was chatting to an old couple.

Move over! There’s room on that sofa for another.

Por ese sentido de aproximarse a otros, también se usa en expresiones que indican ir a casa de alguien:

Roy and Veronica have asked us over for dinner next Friday.

I’m going over to Barry’s later. He needs a hand moving a sofa.

El desplazamiento desde un lado hacia otro también sugiere cambio o intercambio:

Turn the TV over. I want to see the weather.

The UN hopes the handover of prisoners of war will take place within the next few hours.

So, who’s taking over your job when you leave?

La idea de desplazarse de un lado a otro incluye la posibilidad de que el desplazamiento sea de arriba a abajo y viceversa:

Someone must’ve knocked a glass of wine over.

Jillian’s fallen over and scraped her knees and elbows again.

When you’re ready, turn over and look at the exercise on page 103.

Usamos esta metáfora con el significado de ‘reflexionar’ —lo mismo que se hace en español con la expresión ‘dar(le) vueltas’ a algo— y con el de ‘repasar’ o ‘revisar’:

I’ve been going over and over it all night, and I just think it’s the wrong decision.

Can I think it over for a few days?

I need to read it over once more and check for mistakes before sending it.

Finalmente, over hace pensar en ‘cruzar algo’ o en ‘superar un límite por arriba’:

Careful! The pan boiled over, so there’s hot milk everywhere.

Robert’s not overweight! He’s just big-boned.

The flight was overbooked, so I got moved to a later one, and got some money back.

Her reaction was a bit over-the-top! I mean, there was no need to cry.