Using a Lagrangian framework, we study overdamping phenomena in gyroscopic systems composed of two components, one of which is highly lossy and the other is lossless. The losses are accounted for by a Rayleigh dissipative function. We prove that selective overdamping is a generic phenomenon in Lagrangian systems with gyroscopic forces and give an analysis of the overdamping phenomena in such systems. Central to the analysis is the introduction of the notion of a dual Lagrangian system and this yields significant improvements on some results on modal dichotomy and overdamping.[-]