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Tuesday June 10, 2003

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surfeit \SUR-fit\ , noun:
1. An excessive amount or supply.
2. Overindulgence, as in food or drink.
3. Disgust caused by overindulgence or excess.

transitive verb:
1. To feed or supply to excess.

This surfeit of high-ranking officers reflected a top-heaviness that existed throughout the SFOR coalition, starting in Sarajevo, where the headquarters for an entire corps had been set up to command the equivalent of a mere division.
-- William Langewiesche, "Peace is Hell", The Atlantic, October 2001

The Episcopalians actually hold people back from entering seminaries, because there is a surfeit of priests in some dioceses and a lack of open positions.
-- Paul Wilkes, "The Hands That Would Shape Our Souls", The Atlantic, December 1990

They were accustomed to eat till they became surfeited, and to drink till they were sick.
-- Derek Brown, "Millennium: 1082-1083", The Guardian, September 1998

Surfeit is from Old French, from the past participle of surfaire, "to overdo," from sur-, "over" (from Latin super) + faire, "to do" (from Latin facere).

Dictionary.com Entry and Pronunciation for surfeit