Burden

Pronunciation

• RP IPA: /ˈbɜːdn/
• GenAm IPA: /ˈbɝdn/
• Rhymes: -ɜː(ɹ)dÉ™n

From Middle English burden, birden, burthen, birthen, byrthen, from Old English byrden, byrþen ("burden, load, weight; charge, duty"), from Proto-Germanic *burþinjō ("burden"), from Proto-Germanic *burþį̄ ("burden"), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰer- ("to carry, bear"). Cognate with Scots burthine ("burden"), Middle Low German borden ("burden"), Middle High German bürden ("burden, load"). Related to Old English byrd ("burden"), German Bürde ("burden, weight"), Danish byrde ("burden"), Swedish börde ("burden"), Icelandic byrði ("burden").

Alternative forms

• burthen archaic

Full definition of burden

Noun

1. A heavy load.
• 1898, J. Meade Falkner, Moonfleet Chapter 4There 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.
• Jonathan SwiftDeaf, 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.
7. A fixed quantity of certain commodities.A burden of gad steel is 120 pounds.
8. (obsolete, rare) A birth.

Verb

1. (transitive) To encumber with a burden (in any of the noun senses of the word).to burden a nation with taxes
• Bible, 2 Corinthians viii. 13I mean not that other men be eased, and ye burdened.
• ShakespeareMy burdened heart would break.
2. To impose, as a load or burden; to lay or place as a burden (something heavy or objectionable).
• ColeridgeIt is absurd to burden this act on Cromwell.

Derived terms

• burdensome
• beast of burden

From Old French bordon. See bourdon.

Noun

1. (music) A phrase or theme that recurs at the end of each verse in a folk song or ballad.
• 1610, , by William Shakespeare, act 1 scene 2... Foot it featly here and there;
  And, sweet sprites, the burden bear.
• 1846, Edgar Allan Poe, 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.
2. The drone of a bagpipe.
3. (obsolete) Theme, core idea.

Anagrams

• bunder, burned, unbred