Burden

10 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Burden \Bur"den\ (b[^u]"d'n), n. [Written also burthen.] [OE.
     burden, burthen, birthen, birden, AS. byr[eth]en; akin to
     Icel. byr[eth]i, Dan. byrde, Sw. b["o]rda, G. b["u]rde, OHG.
     burdi, Goth. ba['u]r[thorn]ei, fr. the root of E. bear, AS.
     beran, Goth. bairan. [root]92. See 1st {Bear}.]
     1. That which is borne or carried; a load.


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              Plants with goodly burden bowing.     --Shak.
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     2. That which is borne with labor or difficulty; that which
        is grievous, wearisome, or oppressive.
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              Deaf, giddy, helpless, left alone,
              To all my friends a burden grown.     --Swift.
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     3. The capacity of a vessel, or the weight of cargo that she
        will carry; as, a ship of a hundred tons burden.
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     4. (Mining) The tops or heads of stream-work which lie over
        the stream of tin.
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     5. (Metal.) The proportion of ore and flux to fuel, in the
        charge of a blast furnace. --Raymond.
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     6. A fixed quantity of certain commodities; as, a burden of
        gad steel, 120 pounds.
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     7. A birth. [Obs. & R.] --Shak.
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     {Beast of burden}, an animal employed in carrying burdens.
  
     {Burden of proof} [L. onus probandi] (Law), the duty of
        proving a particular position in a court of law, a failure
        in the performance of which duty calls for judgment
        against the party on whom the duty is imposed.
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     Syn: {Burden}, {Load}.
  
     Usage: A burden is, in the literal sense, a weight to be
            borne; a load is something laid upon us to be carried.
            Hence, when used figuratively, there is usually a
            difference between the two words. Our burdens may be
            of such a nature that we feel bound to bear them
            cheerfully or without complaint. They may arise from
            the nature of our situation; they may be allotments of
            Providence; they may be the consequences of our
            errors. What is upon us, as a load, we commonly carry
            with greater reluctance or sense of oppression. Men
            often find the charge of their own families to be a
            burden; but if to this be added a load of care for
            others, the pressure is usually serve and irksome.
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From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Burdon \Bur"don\, n. [See {Bourdon}.]
     A pilgrim's staff. [Written also {burden}.] --Rom. of R.
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From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Burden \Bur"den\ (b[^u]r"d'n), n. [OE. burdoun the bass in
     music, F. bourdon; cf. LL. burdo drone, a long organ pipe, a
     staff, a mule. Prob. of imitative origin. Cf. {Bourdon}.]
     1. The verse repeated in a song, or the return of the theme
        at the end of each stanza; the chorus; refrain. Hence:
        That which is often repeated or which is dwelt upon; the
        main topic; as, the burden of a prayer.
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              I would sing my song without a burden. --Shak.
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     2. The drone of a bagpipe. --Ruddiman.
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From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Burden \Bur"den\, n. [See {Burdon}.]
     A club. [Obs.] --Spenser.
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From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Burden \Bur"den\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Burdened}; p. pr. & vb.
     n. {Burdening}.]
     1. To encumber with weight (literal or figurative); to lay a
        heavy load upon; to load.
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              I mean not that other men be eased, and ye burdened.
                                                    --2 Cor. viii.
                                                    13.
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     2. To oppress with anything grievous or trying; to overload;
        as, to burden a nation with taxes.
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              My burdened heart would break.        --Shak.
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     3. To impose, as a load or burden; to lay or place as a
        burden (something heavy or objectionable). [R.]
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              It is absurd to burden this act on Cromwell.
                                                    --Coleridge.
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     Syn: To load; encumber; overload; oppress.
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From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  burden
       n 1: an onerous or difficult concern; "the burden of
            responsibility"; "that's a load off my mind" [syn: {load},
             {encumbrance}, {incumbrance}, {onus}]
       2: weight to be borne or conveyed [syn: {load}, {loading}]
       3: the central meaning or theme of a speech or literary work
          [syn: {effect}, {essence}, {core}, {gist}]
       4: the central idea that is expanded in a document or discourse
       v 1: weight down with a load [syn: {burthen}, {weight}, {weight
            down}] [ant: {unburden}]
       2: impose a task upon, assign a responsibility to; "He charged
          her with cleaning up all the files over the weekend" [syn:
           {charge}, {saddle}]

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

  430 Moby Thesaurus words for "burden":
     Spenserian stanza, accommodation, add, adjoin, affix, afflict,
     affliction, agglutinate, agitate, albatross, allegiance, amount,
     anacrusis, annex, antistrophe, append, arraignability,
     arraignableness, assigned task, attach, bag, bale, bane, barrel,
     basis, bass, bass passage, bear down on, bear hard upon, bis,
     bitter cup, bitter draft, bitter draught, bitter pill,
     blameworthiness, bloody hands, bob, body, book, bother, bottle,
     bounden duty, bourdon, box, bridge, bugbear, burden of care,
     burden with, burdening, burthen, business, busy, cadence, calamity,
     call of duty, can, cankerworm of care, canto, capacity, care,
     cargo, carload, cartload, case, censurability, censurableness,
     chant, chapter, charge, chargeability, charging, chest voice,
     chorus, clog, coda, coloratura, commitment, complicate, complicity,
     concern, conjoin, content, cordage, couplet, cramp, crate,
     criminality, cripple, cross, crown of thorns, crush one,
     crushing burden, culpability, cumber, cumbrance, curse, deadweight,
     death, decorate, dedication, deference, demand, destruction,
     development, devoir, devotion, difficulty, dirty hands,
     disadvantage, discomfort, disease, disquiet, distich, distress,
     disturb, ditto, division, drag, drive, drone, drone bass,
     duties and responsibilities, duty, embarrass, embarrassment,
     encumber, encumbrance, enjoin, enmesh, ensnarl, entangle, entoil,
     entrammel, entrap, entwine, envoi, epode, essence, ethics, evil,
     exact, exhaust, exposition, fag, falsetto, fasten upon, fealty,
     fetter, figure, fill, focus of attention, focus of interest,
     folderol, freight, freight with, gall, gall and wormwood, gist,
     glue on, go hard with, go ill with, gravamen, grievance, guilt,
     guiltiness, guilty conscience, hamper, hamstring, handicap, harm,
     harmonic close, haul, haunt, haunt the memory, head, head voice,
     heading, heap, heap up, heptastich, hexastich, hitch on, hobble,
     homage, impeachability, impeachableness, impede, impediment,
     impedimenta, imperative, implication, impose, impose on,
     impose upon, imposition, inconvenience, incubus, inculpation,
     incumbency, indictability, indictableness, infix, inflict on,
     inflict upon, infliction, interlude, intermezzo,
     introductory phrase, involve, involvement, issue, join with,
     keep busy, lade, lading, lame, lay, lay on, levy, lie on, lime,
     limit, line, line of duty, living issue, load, load with care,
     loading, loyalty, lumber, main point, mass, matter, matter in hand,
     measure, meat, millstone, mission, monostich, motif, motive,
     movement, musical phrase, musical sentence, must, nemesis, net,
     obligation, obsess, octastich, octave, octet, onus, open wound,
     oppress, oppression, ornament, ottava rima, ought, overburden,
     overdrive, overload, overtask, overtax, overtaxing, overweigh,
     overweight, overweighting, overwork, pack, pack away,
     pack of troubles, part, passage, paste on, payload, peccancy,
     peck of troubles, penalty, pentastich, period, perturb, pest,
     pestilence, phrase, pile, pith, place, plague, plus, pocket, point,
     point at issue, point in question, postfix, poundage, prefix,
     press down, press hard upon, pressure, prey on, problem, purport,
     put, put down, put on, put to it, put upon, put with, quantity,
     quatrain, question, red-handedness, refrain, repeat, repetend,
     reprehensibility, reproachableness, reprovability, reprovableness,
     resolution, respect, response, rest hard upon, rhyme royal,
     ritornello, room, rubric, running sore, sack, saddle, saddle with,
     saddling, scourge, sea of troubles, section, self-imposed duty,
     septet, sestet, set, sextet, shackle, ship, shipload, slap on,
     snarl, sorrow, space, stack, stanza, statement, stave, store, stow,
     stowage, strain, strophe, subject, subject matter,
     subject of thought, subject to, subjoin, substance, suffix,
     superadd, superincumbency, superpose, surcharge, sweat, syllable,
     tack on, tag, tag on, tailpiece, tangle, task, tax, taxing, tercet,
     terza rima, tetrastich, text, theme, thorn, thrust, tire, toil,
     tonnage, topic, torment, trailerload, trainload, trammel, treble,
     triplet, tristich, trouble, truckload, try one, tutti,
     tutti passage, undersong, unite with, upset, upshot, vanload,
     variation, verse, vexation, visitation, voce, voce di petto,
     voce di testa, voice, volume, waters of bitterness, wear out,
     weary, weigh, weigh down, weigh heavy on, weigh on, weigh upon,
     weight, weight down, weight down with, white elephant, woe, work,
     yoke with
  
  

From Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary [easton]:

  Burden
     (1.) A load of any kind (Ex. 23:5). (2.) A severe task (Ex.
     2:11). (3.) A difficult duty, requiring effort (Ex. 18:22). (4.)
     A prophecy of a calamitous or disastrous nature (Isa. 13:1;
     17:1; Hab. 1:1, etc.).
     

From U.S. Gazetteer (1990) [gazetteer]:

  Burden, KS (city, FIPS 9250)
    Location: 37.31314 N, 96.75503 W
    Population (1990): 518 (221 housing units)
    Area: 1.3 sq km (land), 0.0 sq km (water)
    Zip code(s): 67019

From U.S. Gazetteer Places (2000) [gaz-place]:

  Burden, KS -- U.S. city in Kansas
     Population (2000):    564
     Housing Units (2000): 236
     Land area (2000):     0.526134 sq. miles (1.362682 sq. km)
     Water area (2000):    0.009121 sq. miles (0.023623 sq. km)
     Total area (2000):    0.535255 sq. miles (1.386305 sq. km)
     FIPS code:            09250
     Located within:       Kansas (KS), FIPS 20
     Location:             37.314128 N, 96.755377 W
     ZIP Codes (1990):     67019
     Note: some ZIP codes may be omitted esp. for suburbs.
     Headwords:
      Burden, KS
      Burden