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What is the grammar of the word 'over' in the example:'The accident was already over when we arrived'

I know it means finished and I think it's an adjective but didn't find the same meaning in the adjectival uses listed by dictionary.com:

adjective 41. upper; higher up.

  1. higher in authority, station, etc.

  2. serving, or intended to serve, as an outer covering; outer.

  3. remaining or additional, surplus; extra.

Neither did I find the same meaning in any of the other grammatical functions listed regarding 'over'

  1. too great; excessive (usually used in combination): Insufficient tact and overaggressiveness are two of his problems.
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See 3.3 here: merriam-webster.com/dictionary/over – onomatomaniak Oct 12 '11 at 9:01

closed as general reference by simchona♦, kiamlaluno, JSBձոգչ, RegDwighт♦ Jan 17 '12 at 0:02

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2 Answers

up vote 1 down vote accepted

Among the various definitions of the word "over", I found this which explains the meaning of the sentence you have posted. Definition: At an end; beyond the limit of continuance; completed; finished. You can find the other explanations of the word at this link: http://ardictionary.com/Over/3376

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It seems odd to cite a dictionary that doesn't show part-of-speech information, for a question tagged part-of-speech. – jwpat7 Jun 28 '12 at 23:47
up vote 5 down vote

It's an adjective, but one which can only be used predicatively, not attributively.

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Thanks for that, very useful comment. – nicholas ainsworth Oct 12 '11 at 10:30

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