Over

The preposition over has metaphorical uses as a preposition, and in phrasal verbs.

Over: Indicates movement from one side to another, movement over the top of something, or location on top of something.

The original spatial meaning refers to an object (or person) moving over another object (the dot, which serves as the reference point), lead to the completion the movement. An observer can rest in a position over the top, or one can look at the completed action. From point A, we can say, for example, you are looking over something physically; this idea can be extended metaphorically to being over something, such as being in charge or in control (I am over a company of 500 people). From point B, we can speak of something being finished or done, even metaphorically (“I’m over you!” said to an ex-boyfriend or ex-girlfriend, meaning that one is emotionally finished with the relationship, the breakup, its consequences, and one no longer has any interest in him/her anymore). Other metaphorical uses of over derive from the meanings of over for position or movement.

	expressions	meaning / nuance
1	The new building towers over the rest of the downtown structures. Don’t stand over me when I’m working.	Physical / spatial meaning: greater height
2	I’m over a company of 500 employees. I preside over a great empire. I have control over everything. You have two supervisors over me, and I, in turn, am over all of you. Don’t trust a fox to watch over your chickens.	The invaders are now taking over the country.
3	The rack fell over. The dog knocked the flowerpot over. I tripped over a cord and fell down. The driver ran over a skunk. He kicked the chair over. The drunkard keeled over and collapsed on the street.	downward motion, but not straight down, e.g., falling down motion (which may be more descriptive than simply down).
4	They prefer salad over snack foods.	preference (X over Y)
5	Those two guys are fighting over a woman. He quit over a salary dispute.	cause, reason (e.g., the reason why one goes over an obstacle to a destination, in the original physical schema)
6	The Han River freezes over during extremely cold winter storms. We simply papered over the holes and painted over the cracks. The sky quickly clouded over with dark gray storm clouds.	covering (from motion over something)
7	The stew pot boiled over, the water spilled over, and the soda bubbled over. Over and above the loans, I have to pay hefty interest.	overflow
8	We have a lot of food left over.	excess
9	This quantum physics is way too hard – it’s over my head. I’m in over my head.	excessive
10	He asked his classmates over to his apartment. He invited them over. We also came over / dropped over / popped over. (slang) Can we stay over at your place? We had to pull over to the side of the road to check the tire. Move over – I need to get through.	sideways motion (may look like ‘over’ motion if viewed from above)
11	We will change over to a new system early next year, when we swap the servers over. He won over her heart with his cooking abilities.	transition, change
12	The storm finally blew over, and we started to clean up the mess. The controversy will blow over soon. No, I don’t want to fix our relationship. It’s over now. I’m over you. In fact, I got over you a long time ago.	completion, end
13	I lost my file, so I have to do it over / start over. I hate having to do this over and over.	repetition (like repeating an 'over' event)
14	We need to first think the problem over ourselves, then meet to talk it over, look over the data, go over the plan, and check over the details.	deliberate, careful process (cf. above ex.)