überrollen

Überrollen is a German verb meaning to roll over something or someone, typically by a vehicle or other rolling object. The action implies physical contact in which the weight or rolling motion passes over the target, often with injury or damage in mind. In everyday language, überrollen is used for concrete events such as a car rolling over a pedestrian or a wheel running over an obstacle.

In usage, überrollen is less common in general reporting than the related verb überfahren, which simply means to drive over. Überrollen emphasizes the rolling contact and can carry a sense of the object being rolled across the surface. The verb can also appear in mechanical or industrial contexts to describe equipment that rolls over an object, such as a roller passing over material.

Grammatical notes: überrollen is a separable-prefix verb. Present tense forms include: ich rolle über den Bordstein; du rollst über den Bordstein; er rollt über den Bordstein; wir rollen über den Bordstein; ihr rollt über den Bordstein; sie rollen über den Bordstein. The past participle is überrollt and is used with haben: Der Wagen hat den Fußgänger überrollt. Other tenses follow the standard conjugation patterns of rollen.

Nominal form: das Überrollen, referring to the act of rolling over something. Related terms include überfahren, which denotes driving over without necessarily the rolling action, and rollen in its general sense of rolling. In safety or accident reports, the exact mechanism may be described to distinguish rolling contact from mere contact with a vehicle.