burden definition

English burden definition

Etymology 1

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 forms

• burthen (archaic)

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈbɜːdn̩/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈbɝdn̩/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɜː(ɹ)dən

Noun

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.
   • c. 1710-1730, Jonathan Swift, The Dean's Complaint Translated and Answered

     Deaf, giddy, helpless, left alone, / To all my friends a burden grown.

4. The capacity of a vessel, or the weight of cargo that she will carry.

   a ship of a hundred tons burden

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.

Translations

Verb

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

   • 1591 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Second Part of Henry the Sixt, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies. […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358, [Act III, scene ii]:

     My burdened heart would break.

   • 1593, anonymous, The Life and Death of Iacke Straw […], Act I:

     This ſtraunge vnwelcome and vnhappie newes, […]
     Burdens my heart, and interrupts my ſleepe, […]

   • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], OCLC 964384981, 2 Corinthians 8:13, column 2:

     For I meane not that other men bee eaſed, and you burthened: […]

2. (transitive) To impose, as a load or burden; to lay or place as a burden (something heavy or objectionable).

Translations

Derived terms

Etymology 2

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

Noun

burden (plural burdens)

2. (music) A phrase or theme that recurs at the end of each verse in a folk song or ballad.
   • 1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tempest”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358, [Act I, scene ii]:

     Foot it featly here and there; / And, sweet sprites, the burden bear.

   • 1846, Edgar Allan Poe, The Philosophy of Composition

     As commonly used, the refrain, or burden, not only is limited to lyric verse, but depends for its impression upon the force of monotone - both in sound and thought.

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

References

Anagrams

• bunder, burned, unbred

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Middle English burden definition

Etymology 1

Adjective

burden

1. Alternative form of borden

Etymology 2

From burde +‎ -en (plural ending).

Noun

burden

1. plural of burde

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West Frisian burden definition

Noun

burden

1. plural of burd