The Surprisingly Brief History of "To Overdose"

The Washington Post is currently covering a story here in metro DC about a five month old baby who ingested heroin (and survived).  What struck me as odd was that most of the headlines about the case and the accompanying text say that the baby "overdosed" on heroin.  Since to overdose means "to take too large a dose of something," this got me wondering: is there really any acceptable level of heroin use for a five month old that would not be considered an overdose?  The Post's use of the verb would seem to imply that.  

Then I thought a little more and went to my favorite online resource, the Oxford English Dictionary. And what I found was quite surprising: that for most of its life--since around 1700--to overdose was a transitive verb meaning to "give too large a dose to."  In other words, it required an object, and it was not restricted to medicine.  The OED cites, for example, a 1977 Washington Post article cautioning readers that "Iceberg lettuce salad cannot be saved by overdosing it with garlic and oregano" and a journal that mentions "a diabetic patient who has been overdosed with insulin."

The first entry of to overdose as an intransitive verb--one not requiring an object--is only from 1973, surprisingly. It's from a Robert Ludlum book where he writes, "The doctor told me that he'd prescribe heavier ‘medication’ but warned me not to overdose." As we can see, the old definition, as an intransitive verb referring to any substance, has been largely replaced by its current use as transitive verb referring most often to taking too large a dose of medicine or some other pharmaceutical substance. 

Why such a change?  Look at the date: 1973.  This was the early 1970s, a time when illegal drug use was becoming mainstream as more and more people started experimenting with marijuana, LSD, and other mind-altering substances.  And as the popularity of these drugs increased, it would follow that people began to ingest far too much.  Thus, to overdose took on a new meaning as people looked for a word to describe such as action. 

 

Comments

[Ray Ward]

Seems to me that this incident called for the passive voice. The baby did not "overdose"; he or she “was overdosed.”