The word over shows up constantly in English, often in ways that connect to its core meaning of “above” or “across.”

When something is over your head, it's physically above you, like clouds or a roof. But when a joke goes over your head, it means you didn't understand it. When you climb over a fence, you go up and across to the other side. When you look something over, your eyes move across it carefully.

Over also means “finished” or “done with.” When recess is over, it has ended. When you get over a cold, you've recovered from it. When something happens over and over, it repeats again and again.

The word appears in countless phrases: over there (in that place), all over (everywhere), over time (gradually), and left over (remaining after something ends).

When you read that something costs over twenty dollars, it means more than twenty. When your mom says you're making a fuss over nothing, she means the problem isn't as big as you're treating it.