Skip to content
OneKitly

unload

verbcommon in dialogue

  • United Kingdom//ʌnˈləʊd//
  • United States//ʌnˈloʊd//

To remove the load or cargo from (a vehicle, etc.).

verb

  1. 1

    To remove the load or cargo from (a vehicle, etc.).

    to unload a ship

    to unload a camel

    A loader performs the important work of storing goods in the wagons and of unloading the wagons. In each case considerable skill is required to avoid breakage, and, in the case of loading, skill goes far to conserve wagon space.

    In ten minutes, the first half of the train is unloaded, while Waddicor heads back, still at less than walking pace, to collect the second half. The pace of the reach stackers is impressive.

  2. 2

    To remove (the load or cargo) from a vehicle, etc.

    to unload bales of hay from a truck

  3. 3

    To deposit one's load or cargo.

    Some stations have collection vehicles unload on the floor, using a front loader to push material into the hopper.

  4. 4

    figurativeTo give vent to or express; to unburden oneself of.

    to unload on someone

    […] who bowled with such fury that he needed beer to give him something to sweat out, and who unloaded his emotions in words as hard as his bowling.

    Mr. Trump, who has a mounting list of legal troubles, clearly sees Mr. DeSantis as a political threat and has unloaded on him for months, mocking him as “Ron DeSanctimonious” and slamming his stewardship of Florida.

  5. 5

    To remove (something previously loaded) from memory.

    When you unload a DLL, the memory and other system resources it is using will become available for use by other applications.

  6. 6

    To discharge, pour, or expel.

  7. 7

    To get rid of or dispose of.

  8. 8

    To sell or dispose of (something) with the intent to deceive; to attempt to pass off a counterfeit or inferior product as genuine.

    Practically everything I possess was left to me by an American cousin, on the condition that I took the name of Carrados. He made his fortune by an ingenious conspiracy of doctoring the crop reports and unloading favourably in consequence.

  9. 9

    To reduce the vertical load factor on (an airplane's wing or other lifting surface), typically by pitching downwards toward the ground to decrease angle of attack and reduce the amount of lift generated.

  10. 10

    To deliver forcefully.

  11. 11

    slangTo ejaculate, particularly within an orifice.

  12. 12

    To remove the charge from; to discharge.

    He unloaded his revolver and put the cartridges away to be reloaded later.

    He unloaded his revolver on the home invaders.

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *h₂ent- Proto-Indo-European *-s Proto-Indo-European *h₂éntsder. Proto-Germanic *anda- Proto-West Germanic *anda- Old English and- Old English on- Middle English on- English un- English load English unload From un- + load.

Forms

past tense
unloaded
past participle
unloaded
present participle
unloading
third person singular
unloads
The neighbouring pagesAlphabetical order follows the rules of the language, not byte values: an accent decides only between two otherwise identical words, and Spanish files Ñ as a letter of its own.

Lexical content from Wiktionary, under CC BY-SA 4.0 · Source entry · Data version 2026-08-23

Rank among the words of the OpenSubtitles 2018 corpus — film and television subtitles, so spoken rather than written usage (CC BY-SA 3.0).