burden
noun
- load placed on a person or object
verb
- place a weight on someone or something
- put a load on someone/thing, the act of putting a load on someone (the act!!!)
Wiktionary
Pronunciation: /ˈbɜːdn̩/ / /ˈbɝdn̩/ / /bʌɾdn̩/
name
- A surname.
- A minor city in Cowley County, Kansas, United States.
- A village in Erpeldange commune, Luxembourg (French spelling).
noun
Etymology: Inherited from Middle English burdoun (“accompaniment”), from Old French bordon (“drone”), from Medieval Latin burdō. Doublet of bourdon.
- 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.”
“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.”
- The drone of a bagpipe.
“BURDEN in some musical instruments, the Drone or Bass, and the pipe or string that plays it”
- Theme, core idea.
“the burden of the argument”
verb
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”).
- To encumber with a literal or figurative burden.
“to burden a nation with taxes”
“My burdened heart would break.”
- To impose, as a load or burden; to lay or place as a burden (something heavy or objectionable).
“He was beginning to forget his burdening, despairing mood of a short while ago.”