diff --git a/base/boot.jl b/base/boot.jl
index 5ba20e39a67041..f3109e468463a7 100644
--- a/base/boot.jl
+++ b/base/boot.jl
@@ -206,7 +206,7 @@ struct BoundsError        <: Exception
 end
 struct DivideError        <: Exception end
 struct DomainError        <: Exception end
-struct OverflowError      <: Exception end
+struct FieldOverflowError <: Exception end
 struct OutOfMemoryError   <: Exception end
 struct ReadOnlyMemoryError<: Exception end
 struct SegmentationFault  <: Exception end
@@ -229,6 +229,9 @@ struct InexactError <: Exception
 
     InexactError(f::Symbol, T::ANY, val::ANY) = (@_noinline_meta; new(f, T, val))
 end
+struct OverflowError <: Exception
+    args
+end
 
 abstract type DirectIndexString <: AbstractString end
 
diff --git a/base/checked.jl b/base/checked.jl
index 215f12a62b52ea..58125652d5869c 100644
--- a/base/checked.jl
+++ b/base/checked.jl
@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@ import Core.Intrinsics:
        checked_srem_int,
        checked_uadd_int, checked_usub_int, checked_umul_int, checked_udiv_int,
        checked_urem_int
-import Base: no_op_err, @_inline_meta
+import Base: no_op_err, @_inline_meta, @_noinline_meta
 
 # define promotion behavior for checked operations
 checked_add(x::Integer, y::Integer) = checked_add(promote(x,y)...)
@@ -90,16 +90,18 @@ The overflow protection may impose a perceptible performance penalty.
 function checked_neg(x::T) where T<:Integer
     checked_sub(T(0), x)
 end
+throw_overflowerr_negation(x) = (@_noinline_meta;
+    throw(OverflowError("cannot compute -x for x = $x::$(typeof(x))")))
 if BrokenSignedInt != Union{}
 function checked_neg(x::BrokenSignedInt)
     r = -x
-    (x<0) & (r<0) && throw(OverflowError())
+    (x<0) & (r<0) && throw_overflowerr_negation(x)
     r
 end
 end
 if BrokenUnsignedInt != Union{}
 function checked_neg(x::T) where T<:BrokenUnsignedInt
-    x != 0 && throw(OverflowError())
+    x != 0 && throw_overflowerr_negation(x)
     T(0)
 end
 end
@@ -117,7 +119,7 @@ function checked_abs end
 
 function checked_abs(x::SignedInt)
     r = ifelse(x<0, -x, x)
-    r<0 && throw(OverflowError())
+    r<0 && throw(OverflowError(string("cannot compute |x| for x = ", x, "::", typeof(x))))
     r
  end
 checked_abs(x::UnsignedInt) = x
@@ -152,6 +154,9 @@ end
 end
 
 
+throw_overflowerr_binaryop(op, x, y, T) = (@_noinline_meta;
+    throw(OverflowError("$x $op $y overflowed for type $T")))
+
 """
     Base.checked_add(x, y)
 
@@ -162,7 +167,7 @@ The overflow protection may impose a perceptible performance penalty.
 function checked_add(x::T, y::T) where T<:Integer
     @_inline_meta
     z, b = add_with_overflow(x, y)
-    b && throw(OverflowError())
+    b && throw_overflowerr_binaryop(:+, x, y, T)
     z
 end
 
@@ -219,7 +224,7 @@ The overflow protection may impose a perceptible performance penalty.
 function checked_sub(x::T, y::T) where T<:Integer
     @_inline_meta
     z, b = sub_with_overflow(x, y)
-    b && throw(OverflowError())
+    b && throw_overflowerr_binaryop(:-, x, y, T)
     z
 end
 
@@ -284,7 +289,7 @@ The overflow protection may impose a perceptible performance penalty.
 function checked_mul(x::T, y::T) where T<:Integer
     @_inline_meta
     z, b = mul_with_overflow(x, y)
-    b && throw(OverflowError())
+    b && throw_overflowerr_binaryop(:*, x, y, T)
     z
 end
 
diff --git a/base/combinatorics.jl b/base/combinatorics.jl
index 137fb439c6ec64..d5d0edf6114c9d 100644
--- a/base/combinatorics.jl
+++ b/base/combinatorics.jl
@@ -16,7 +16,7 @@ end
 
 function factorial_lookup(n::Integer, table, lim)
     n < 0 && throw(DomainError())
-    n > lim && throw(OverflowError())
+    n > lim && throw(OverflowError(string(n, " is too large to look up in the table")))
     n == 0 && return one(n)
     @inbounds f = table[n]
     return oftype(n, f)
diff --git a/base/deprecated.jl b/base/deprecated.jl
index 33d9d780f16a2b..226d66eae7dd56 100644
--- a/base/deprecated.jl
+++ b/base/deprecated.jl
@@ -1561,6 +1561,12 @@ function InexactError()
     InexactError(:none, Any, nothing)
 end
 
+# PR #??
+function OverflowError()
+    depwarn("OverflowError now supports a message string, use `OverflowError(msg)` instead.", :OverflowError)
+    OverflowError("")
+end
+
 # PR #22703
 @deprecate Bidiagonal(dv::AbstractVector, ev::AbstractVector, isupper::Bool) Bidiagonal(dv, ev, ifelse(isupper, :U, :L))
 @deprecate Bidiagonal(dv::AbstractVector, ev::AbstractVector, uplo::Char) Bidiagonal(dv, ev, ifelse(uplo == 'U', :U, :L))
diff --git a/base/docs/helpdb/Base.jl b/base/docs/helpdb/Base.jl
index 3297d1e1d1b049..13a8f2f7ecbc31 100644
--- a/base/docs/helpdb/Base.jl
+++ b/base/docs/helpdb/Base.jl
@@ -1593,7 +1593,7 @@ used only with extreme caution, as it can cause memory use to grow without bound
 gc_enable
 
 """
-    OverflowError()
+    OverflowError(msg)
 
 The result of an expression is too large for the specified type and will cause a wraparound.
 """
diff --git a/base/gmp.jl b/base/gmp.jl
index af284cdc2ab2e2..a1b2aef5f43662 100644
--- a/base/gmp.jl
+++ b/base/gmp.jl
@@ -482,6 +482,8 @@ isqrt(x::BigInt) = MPZ.sqrt(x)
 ^(x::BigInt, y::Culong) = MPZ.pow_ui(x, y)
 
 function bigint_pow(x::BigInt, y::Integer)
+    @noinline throw1(y) =
+        throw(OverflowError("exponent $y is too large and computation will overflow"))
     if y<0; throw(DomainError()); end
     if x== 1; return x; end
     if x==-1; return isodd(y) ? x : -x; end
@@ -496,7 +498,7 @@ function bigint_pow(x::BigInt, y::Integer)
        #
        #Assume that the answer will definitely overflow.
 
-       throw(OverflowError())
+       throw1(y)
     end
     return x^convert(Culong, y)
 end
diff --git a/base/intfuncs.jl b/base/intfuncs.jl
index 0d0c2af9d5ed0a..b6a4ecb6ef45ec 100644
--- a/base/intfuncs.jl
+++ b/base/intfuncs.jl
@@ -28,6 +28,7 @@ end
 # binary GCD (aka Stein's) algorithm
 # about 1.7x (2.1x) faster for random Int64s (Int128s)
 function gcd(a::T, b::T) where T<:Union{Int64,UInt64,Int128,UInt128}
+    @noinline throw1(a, b) = throw(OverflowError("gcd($a, $b) overflows"))
     a == 0 && return abs(b)
     b == 0 && return abs(a)
     za = trailing_zeros(a)
@@ -44,7 +45,7 @@ function gcd(a::T, b::T) where T<:Union{Int64,UInt64,Int128,UInt128}
     end
     r = u << k
     # T(r) would throw InexactError; we want OverflowError instead
-    r > typemax(T) && throw(OverflowError())
+    r > typemax(T) && throw1(a, b)
     r % T
 end
 
@@ -824,6 +825,7 @@ julia> factorial(5) ÷ (factorial(5-3) * factorial(3))
 ```
 """
 function binomial(n::T, k::T) where T<:Integer
+    n0, k0 = n, k
     k < 0 && return zero(T)
     sgn = one(T)
     if n < 0
@@ -844,7 +846,7 @@ function binomial(n::T, k::T) where T<:Integer
     while rr <= k
         xt = div(widemul(x, nn), rr)
         x = xt
-        x == xt || throw(OverflowError())
+        x == xt || throw(OverflowError("binomial($n0, $k0) overflows"))
         rr += 1
         nn += 1
     end
diff --git a/base/parse.jl b/base/parse.jl
index 03d460d0585b8a..672b3d16f4fa69 100644
--- a/base/parse.jl
+++ b/base/parse.jl
@@ -112,7 +112,7 @@ function tryparse_internal(::Type{T}, s::AbstractString, startpos::Int, endpos::
         n, ov_mul = mul_with_overflow(n, base)
         n, ov_add = add_with_overflow(n, d)
         if ov_mul | ov_add
-            raise && throw(OverflowError())
+            raise && throw(OverflowError("overflow parsing $(repr(SubString(s,startpos,endpos)))"))
             return _n
         end
         (i > endpos) && return Nullable{T}(n)
diff --git a/base/rational.jl b/base/rational.jl
index b6af61273dfcec..cc12ac946d44a3 100644
--- a/base/rational.jl
+++ b/base/rational.jl
@@ -233,11 +233,11 @@ isinteger(x::Rational) = x.den == 1
 
 -(x::Rational) = (-x.num) // x.den
 function -(x::Rational{T}) where T<:Signed
-    x.num == typemin(T) && throw(OverflowError())
+    x.num == typemin(T) && throw(OverflowError("rational numerator is typemin(T)"))
     (-x.num) // x.den
 end
 function -(x::Rational{T}) where T<:Unsigned
-    x.num != zero(T) && throw(OverflowError())
+    x.num != zero(T) && throw(OverflowError("cannot negate unsigned number"))
     x
 end
 
diff --git a/src/codegen.cpp b/src/codegen.cpp
index a800306b9a7414..8844f86f7ed886 100644
--- a/src/codegen.cpp
+++ b/src/codegen.cpp
@@ -6242,7 +6242,7 @@ static void init_julia_llvm_env(Module *m)
     global_jlvalue_to_llvm("jl_emptytuple", &jl_emptytuple, m);
     global_jlvalue_to_llvm("jl_diverror_exception", &jl_diverror_exception, m);
     global_jlvalue_to_llvm("jl_undefref_exception", &jl_undefref_exception, m);
-    global_jlvalue_to_llvm("jl_overflow_exception", &jl_overflow_exception, m);
+    global_jlvalue_to_llvm("jl_fieldoverflow_exception", &jl_fieldoverflow_exception, m);
 
     jlRTLD_DEFAULT_var =
         new GlobalVariable(*m, T_pint8,
diff --git a/src/datatype.c b/src/datatype.c
index e97a26ad53bf1a..a7b7e195382f77 100644
--- a/src/datatype.c
+++ b/src/datatype.c
@@ -347,7 +347,7 @@ void jl_compute_field_offsets(jl_datatype_t *st)
     return;
  throw_ovf:
     if (descsz >= jl_page_size) free(desc);
-    jl_throw(jl_overflow_exception);
+    jl_throw(jl_fieldoverflow_exception);
 }
 
 extern int jl_boot_file_loaded;
diff --git a/src/init.c b/src/init.c
index 8d0974d8c5155a..308d01b7f423cd 100644
--- a/src/init.c
+++ b/src/init.c
@@ -785,7 +785,7 @@ void jl_get_builtin_hooks(void)
     jl_errorexception_type = (jl_datatype_t*)core("ErrorException");
     jl_stackovf_exception  = jl_new_struct_uninit((jl_datatype_t*)core("StackOverflowError"));
     jl_diverror_exception  = jl_new_struct_uninit((jl_datatype_t*)core("DivideError"));
-    jl_overflow_exception  = jl_new_struct_uninit((jl_datatype_t*)core("OverflowError"));
+    jl_fieldoverflow_exception  = jl_new_struct_uninit((jl_datatype_t*)core("FieldOverflowError"));
     jl_undefref_exception  = jl_new_struct_uninit((jl_datatype_t*)core("UndefRefError"));
     jl_undefvarerror_type  = (jl_datatype_t*)core("UndefVarError");
     jl_interrupt_exception = jl_new_struct_uninit((jl_datatype_t*)core("InterruptException"));
diff --git a/src/jltypes.c b/src/jltypes.c
index acbb2bdbb3c268..13896b28a6d8f1 100644
--- a/src/jltypes.c
+++ b/src/jltypes.c
@@ -120,7 +120,7 @@ jl_value_t *jl_segv_exception;
 #endif
 JL_DLLEXPORT jl_value_t *jl_diverror_exception;
 JL_DLLEXPORT jl_value_t *jl_domain_exception;
-JL_DLLEXPORT jl_value_t *jl_overflow_exception;
+JL_DLLEXPORT jl_value_t *jl_fieldoverflow_exception;
 JL_DLLEXPORT jl_value_t *jl_undefref_exception;
 jl_value_t *jl_interrupt_exception;
 jl_datatype_t *jl_boundserror_type;
diff --git a/src/julia.h b/src/julia.h
index 64187ba019389e..25107df2dce75c 100644
--- a/src/julia.h
+++ b/src/julia.h
@@ -528,7 +528,7 @@ extern JL_DLLEXPORT jl_value_t *jl_stackovf_exception;
 extern JL_DLLEXPORT jl_value_t *jl_memory_exception;
 extern JL_DLLEXPORT jl_value_t *jl_readonlymemory_exception;
 extern JL_DLLEXPORT jl_value_t *jl_diverror_exception;
-extern JL_DLLEXPORT jl_value_t *jl_overflow_exception;
+extern JL_DLLEXPORT jl_value_t *jl_fieldoverflow_exception;
 extern JL_DLLEXPORT jl_value_t *jl_undefref_exception;
 extern JL_DLLEXPORT jl_value_t *jl_interrupt_exception;
 extern JL_DLLEXPORT jl_datatype_t *jl_boundserror_type;