Definition of "overhead" []

• Located, functioning, or originating from above. (adjective)
• Of or relating to the operating expenses of a business. (adjective)
• The operating expenses of a business, including the costs of rent, utilities, interior decoration, and taxes, exclusive of labor and materials. (noun)
• Nautical The top surface in an enclosed space of a ship. (noun)
• Something, such as a light fixture, that is located above head height. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "You look overhead, but you see only tinsel; but he means of course that the overhead is the music; you look over there and see one of those ivory-thumpers, one of those key-clawers, on of those piano-players, and there is a man with a "crying cornet" and a man with a "sobbing saxophone," one with a slippery slide trombone."
• "Westy said, "That's what you call overhead expense.""
• "The overhead is too high for all of the government mandated rules and regulations now."