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burden
The definition of a burden is something carried, a worry or sadness, or a responsibility.
(noun)- The cargo in a ship is an example of a burden.
- The sadness of your mother's illness is an example of a burden.
- An example of a burden is the duties that come with being a new parent.
Burden is defined as making heavy with a load or with emotion.
(verb)- To pack a mule for a trip is an example of burden.
- An example of burden is to tell someone about your terrible week at work.
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See burden in Webster's New World College Dictionary
noun
- anything that is carried; load
- anything one has to bear or put up with; heavy load, as of work, duty, responsibility, or sorrow
- the carrying of loads: a beast of burden
- the carrying capacity of a ship
Origin: ME birthen < OE byrthen, akin to ON byrthr, a load: for IE base see bear
transitive verb
to put a burden on; load; weigh down; oppress
noun
- Archaic a bass accompaniment in music
- a chorus or refrain of a song
- the drone of a bagpipe
- a repeated, central idea; theme: the burden of a speech
Origin: ME burdoun, bass in music, refrain < OFr bourdon, a humming, buzzing < ML burdo, wind instrument, bumblebee; of echoic orig.
See burden in American Heritage Dictionary 4
noun
- Something that is carried.
- a. Something that is emotionally difficult to bear.b. A source of great worry or stress; weight: The burden of economic sacrifice rests on the workers of the plant.
- A responsibility or duty: The burden of organizing the campaign fell to me.
- Nautical a. The amount of cargo that a vessel can carry.b. The weight of the cargo carried by a vessel at one time.
- The amount of a disease-causing entity present in an organism.
- To weigh down; oppress.
- To load or overload.
Origin:
Origin: Middle English
Origin: , from Old English byrthen; see bher-1 in Indo-European roots
.noun
- A principal or recurring idea; a theme: “The burden of what he said was to defend enthusiastically the conservative aristocracy” (J.A. Froude). See Synonyms at substance.
- Music a. The chorus or refrain of a composition, especially of a 15th-century carol.b. A drone, as of a bagpipe or pedal point.c. Archaic The bass accompaniment to a song.
Origin:
Origin: Variant of bourdon
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