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.
[1913 Webster]
Plants with goodly burden bowing. --Shak.
[1913 Webster]
2. That which is borne with labor or difficulty; that which
is grievous, wearisome, or oppressive.
[1913 Webster]
Deaf, giddy, helpless, left alone,
To all my friends a burden grown. --Swift.
[1913 Webster]
3. The capacity of a vessel, or the weight of cargo that she
will carry; as, a ship of a hundred tons burden.
[1913 Webster]
4. (Mining) The tops or heads of stream-work which lie over
the stream of tin.
[1913 Webster]
5. (Metal.) The proportion of ore and flux to fuel, in the
charge of a blast furnace. --Raymond.
[1913 Webster]
6. A fixed quantity of certain commodities; as, a burden of
gad steel, 120 pounds.
[1913 Webster]
7. A birth. [Obs. & R.] --Shak.
[1913 Webster]
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.
[1913 Webster]
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.
[1913 Webster]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
Burdon \Bur"don\, n. [See Bourdon.]
A pilgrim's staff. [Written also burden.] --Rom. of R.
[1913 Webster]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
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.
[1913 Webster]
I would sing my song without a burden. --Shak.
[1913 Webster]
2. The drone of a bagpipe. --Ruddiman.
[1913 Webster]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
Burden \Bur"den\, n. [See Burdon.]
A club. [Obs.] --Spenser.
[1913 Webster]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
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.
[1913 Webster]
I mean not that other men be eased, and ye burdened.
--2 Cor. viii.
13.
[1913 Webster]
2. To oppress with anything grievous or trying; to overload;
as, to burden a nation with taxes.
[1913 Webster]
My burdened heart would break. --Shak.
[1913 Webster]
3. To impose, as a load or burden; to lay or place as a
burden (something heavy or objectionable). [R.]
[1913 Webster]
It is absurd to burden this act on Cromwell.
--Coleridge.
[1913 Webster]
Syn: To load; encumber; overload; oppress.
[1913 Webster]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
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]
WordNet (r) 2.0
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
Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0
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.).
Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary
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
U.S. Gazetteer (1990)
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
U.S. Gazetteer Places (2000)
|
|
|