Learn English – Proper use of the verb ‘eclipse’

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I need help settling a debate regarding the correct usage of the verb eclipse.

The headline in question is (slightly paraphrased):

Runner Completes 2mi Run; Eclipses 12m Result

Now, let's assume the 12m result is nobody else's (the runner does not compare himself to any other runner)— but rather a hint at the final result of the runner which is, say, 12:05m.

The headline above uses eclipse in the sense of achieved a result that is above X, and not in the sense of achieved a result which puts the other result in its shadow. MW dictionary lists exceed as one of the translations, but I gather it is in the sense of exceed an achievement or result made by someone else or at an earlier time.

Does the headline make a correct/sensible use of the verb given the assumption mentioned above about the result?

Best Answer

I think the sentence is fine.

I feel that both 2a and 2b meanings apply:

eclipse verb

transitive verb

1 : to cause the obscuration of : darken by or as if by an eclipse

2

a : to reduce especially in importance or repute : cast down (as into obscurity or disgrace)

b : to make insignificant by comparison : throw into the shade

Merriam Webster Unabridged Dictionary

See also these samples showing that the usage is well established for quite a while:

The Badminton Library of Sports and Pastimes - Volume 2 - Page 107 1887

but in a race at Cambridge soon afterwards Pelham eclipsed the performance by beating for the first time 2 minutes over Fenner's path, finishing in the race in front of Templer.

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The Illustrated Official Guide and Tourist's Hand Book to ... - Page 17 J. Baxter Langley - 1863

The " Rocket" had thus eclipsed the performance of all locomotive engines that had yet been constructed, and outstripped even the sanguine anticipations of its constructors.

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And if there are any doubts caused by "his own" character of the performance:

Reminiscences of an Athlete: Twenty Years on Track and Field Ellery Harding Clark - 1911

I finished second, with 6189, and Gunn third, with 6111. Sheridan, in the matter of scoring, did not stop here. In 1907 he made a record of 7130|, and in 1909 again eclipsed his own performance with the phenomenal total of 7385.

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