Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

Overtake

Overtake , transitive verb

1.
To come up with in a race, pursuit, progress, or motion;
to catch up with and move ahead of.
Follow after the men; and when thou dost overtake them, say... Wherefore have ye rewarded evil for good. — Gen. xliv. 4
He had him overtaken in his flight. — Spenser
2.
To surpass in production, achievement, etc.; as, although out of school for half a year due to illness, the student returned and overtook all the others to finish as valedictorian.
3.
To come upon from behind; to discover; to surprise; to capture; to overcome.
If a man be overtaken in a fault. — Gal. vi. 1
I shall see The winged vengeance overtake such children. — Shakespeare
4.
Hence, figuratively, in the past participle (overtaken), drunken. [Obsolete] — Holland
5.
To frustrate or render impossible or irrelevant; -- used mostly of plans, and commonly in the phrase overtaken by events; as, their careful marketing plan was overtaken by events.