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Burden
Definitions
- 1 A surname. countable, uncountable
- 2 A minor city in Cowley County, Kansas, United States. countable, uncountable
- 3 A village in Erpeldange commune, Luxembourg (French spelling). countable, uncountable
- 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."
- 2 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."
- 3 weight to be borne or conveyed wordnet
- 4 A responsibility, onus.
- 5 The drone of a bagpipe.
"BURDEN in some musical instruments, the Drone or Bass, and the pipe or string that plays it"
Show 12 more definitions
- 6 an onerous or difficult concern wordnet
- 7 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."
- 8 Theme, core idea.
"the burden of the argument"
- 9 the central idea that is expanded in a document or discourse wordnet
- 10 The capacity of a vessel, or the weight of cargo that she will carry.
"a ship of a hundred tons burden"
- 11 the central meaning or theme of a speech or literary work wordnet
- 12 The tops or heads of stream-work which lie over the stream of tin.
- 13 The proportion of ore and flux to fuel, in the charge of a blast furnace.
- 14 A fixed quantity of certain commodities.
"A burden of gad steel is 120 pounds."
- 15 A birth. obsolete, rare
"… that bore thee at a burden two fair sons."
- 16 The total amount of toxins, parasites, cancer cells, plaque or similar present in an organism.
- 17 The distance between rows of blastholes parallel to the major free face (i.e. face of the excavation)
- 1 To encumber with a literal or figurative burden. transitive
"to burden a nation with taxes"
- 2 impose a task upon, assign a responsibility to wordnet
- 3 To impose, as a load or burden; to lay or place as a burden (something heavy or objectionable). transitive
"He was beginning to forget his burdening, despairing mood of a short while ago."
- 4 weight down with a load wordnet
Etymology
Inherited from Middle English burden, birden, burthen, birthen, byrthen, from Old English byrden, byrþen, from Proto-West Germanic *burþini, from *burþī, from Proto-Germanic *burþį̄, from Proto-Indo-European *bʰer- (“to carry, bear”).
Inherited from Middle English burden, birden, burthen, birthen, byrthen, from Old English byrden, byrþen, from Proto-West Germanic *burþini, from *burþī, from Proto-Germanic *burþį̄, from Proto-Indo-European *bʰer- (“to carry, bear”).
Inherited from Middle English burdoun (“accompaniment”), from Old French bordon (“drone”), from Medieval Latin burdō. Doublet of bourdon.
See also for "burden"
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