Wiktionary

burden

See also: Burden and Bürden

EnglishEdit

 
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Etymology 1Edit

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”).

Alternative formsEdit

PronunciationEdit

NounEdit

burden (plural burdens)

  1. A heavy load.
    • 1898, J. Meade Falkner, Moonfleet, London; Toronto, Ont.: Jonathan Cape, published 1934:
      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. A responsibility, onus.
  3. A cause of worry; that which is grievous, wearisome, or oppressive.
  4. The capacity of a vessel, or the weight of cargo that she will carry.
    a ship of a hundred tons burden
    • 1945 May and June, Charles E. Lee, “The Penrhyn Railway and its Locomotives—1”, in Railway Magazine, page 142, text published 1848:
      " […] 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. (mining) The tops or heads of stream-work which lie over the stream of tin.
  6. (metalworking) The proportion of ore and flux to fuel, in the charge of a blast furnace[1].
  7. A fixed quantity of certain commodities.
    A burden of gad steel is 120 pounds.
  8. (obsolete, rare) A birth.
    […] that bore thee at a burden two fair sons.
  9. (medicine) The total amount of toxins, parasites, cancer cells, plaque or similar present in an organism.
TranslationsEdit
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VerbEdit

burden (third-person singular simple present burdens, present participle burdening, simple past and past participle burdened)

  1. (transitive) To encumber with a literal or figurative burden.
    to burden a nation with taxes
  2. (transitive) To impose, as a load or burden; to lay or place as a burden (something heavy or objectionable).
TranslationsEdit

Derived termsEdit

Etymology 2Edit

Inherited from Middle English burdoun (“accompaniment”), from Old French bordon (“drone”), from Medieval Latin burdō. Doublet of bourdon.

NounEdit

burden (plural burdens)

  2. (music) A phrase or theme that recurs at the end of each verse in a folk song or ballad.
  3. The drone of a bagpipe.
    • 1740, Sébastien de Brossard, James Grassineau, A Musical Dictionary:
      BURDEN in some musical instruments, the Drone or Bass , and the pipe or string that plays it
  4. Theme, core idea.
    the burden of the argument

ReferencesEdit

  1. ^ 1881, Rossiter W. Raymond, A Glossary of Mining and Metallurgical Terms

AnagramsEdit

Middle EnglishEdit

Etymology 1Edit

AdjectiveEdit

burden

  1. Alternative form of borden

Etymology 2Edit

From burde +‎ -en (plural ending).

NounEdit

burden

  1. plural of burde

West FrisianEdit

NounEdit

burden

  1. plural of burd
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