1. [noun] A heavy load.
2. [noun] A responsibility, onus.
3. [noun] A cause of worry; that which is grievous, wearisome, or oppressive.
4. [noun] The capacity of a vessel, or the weight of cargo that she will carry.
5. [noun] (mining) The tops or heads of stream-work which lie over the stream of tin.
6. [noun] (metalworking) The proportion of ore and flux to fuel, in the charge of a blast furnace.
7. [noun] A fixed quantity of certain commodities.
8. [noun] (obsolete) (rare) A birth.
9. [noun] (medicine) The total amount of toxins, parasites, cancer cells, plaque or the such present in an organism.
10. [verb] (transitive) To encumber with a burden (in any of the noun senses of the word).
11. [verb] To impose, as a load or burden; to lay or place as a burden (something heavy or objectionable).
12. [noun] (music) A phrase or theme that recurs at the end of each verse in a folk song or ballad.
13. [noun] The drone of a bagpipe.
14. [noun] (obsolete) Theme, core idea.
15. [noun] An onerous or difficult concern; 'the burden of responsibility'; 'that's a load off my mind'.
16. [noun] Weight to be borne or conveyed.
17. [noun] The central meaning or theme of a speech or literary work.
18. [noun] The central idea that is expanded in a document or discourse.
19. [verb] Weight down with a load.
20. [verb] Impose a task upon, assign a responsibility to; 'He charged her with cleaning up all the files over the weekend'.
