Definition of "overspill" [overspill]

• To spill over. (verb-intransitive)
• The act of spilling over. (noun)
• Something that spills over: an overspill of milk. (noun)
• Chiefly British Movement of people from overcrowded cities to less populated areas. (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.

• "When I was young, douce burghs like Haddington and Dumfries accepted Glasgow "overspill" populations i.e. cleared slum-dwellers."
• "At first he believed his dreams to be some kind of overspill from a full-sense drama that was leaking into the Centurion Station gaiafield."
• "The council also began a programme of buying land in surrounding areas and moving people and industry into newly developed "overspill" estates."
• "The council also began a programme of buying land in surrounding areas and moving people and industry into newly developed "overspill" estates."
• "It was Dawley journalist Mr Bowdler who, in February 1955, wrote an article published in a Birmingham newspaper which suggested that the vast swathes of derelict land in east Shropshire could be used for housing to accommodate the Birmingham "overspill" population."