burden

noun

1. 1

   A heavy load.

   I know that this was Life,—the track ⁠Whereon with equal feet we fared; ⁠And then, as now, the day prepared The daily burden for the back.

   There were four or five men in the vault already, and I could hear more coming down the passage, and guessed from their heavy footsteps that they were carrying burdens.

2. 2

   A responsibility, onus.

3. 3

   A cause of worry; that which is grievous, wearisome, or oppressive.

   c. 1710-1730, Jonathan Swift, The Dean's Complaint Translated and Answered Deaf, giddy, helpless, left alone, / To all my friends a burden grown.

4. 4

   The capacity of a vessel, or the weight of cargo that she will carry.

   a ship of a hundred tons burden

   "[…] The quay is upwards of 1,000 feet in length, and capable of accommodating more than 100 sail of traders; and there are generally a considerable number of vessels of from 40 to 300 tons burden, from various parts of the world, waiting to receive their cargoes."

5. 5

   The tops or heads of stream-work which lie over the stream of tin.

6. 6

   The proportion of ore and flux to fuel, in the charge of a blast furnace.

7. 7

   A fixed quantity of certain commodities.

   A burden of gad steel is 120 pounds.

8. 8

   obsoleteA birth.

   … that bore thee at a burden two fair sons.

9. 9

   The total amount of toxins, parasites, cancer cells, plaque or similar present in an organism.

10. 10

    The distance between rows of blastholes parallel to the major free face (i.e. face of the excavation)

verb

1. 1

   figurativeTo encumber with a burden.

   to burden a nation with taxes

   My burdened heart would break.

   This ſtraunge vnwelcome and vnhappie newes, […] Burdens my heart, and interrupts my ſleepe, […]

   For I meane not that other men bee eaſed, and you burthened: […]

2. 2

   To impose, as a load or burden; to lay or place as a burden (something heavy or objectionable).

   He was beginning to forget his burdening, despairing mood of a short while ago.

noun

1. 1

   A phrase or theme that recurs at the end of each verse in a folk song or ballad.

   Foot it featly here and there; / And, sweet sprites, the burden bear.

   As commonly used, the refrain, or burden, not only is limited to lyric verse, but depends for its impression upon the force of monotone - both in sound and thought.

2. 2

   The drone of a bagpipe.

   BURDEN in some musical instruments, the Drone or Bass, and the pipe or string that plays it

3. 3

   A theme, a core idea.

   the burden of the argument

Forms

plural

burdens

past tense

burdened

past participle

burdened

present participle

burdening

third person singular

burdens