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Webster's Dictionary (1865)

2 entries under this word

Load

Lōad, n.

noun

(lōd, 20), n. [A-S. hlad, lad. See infra.] 1. A burden; that which is laid on or put in any thing for conveyance; that which is borne or sustained; a weight; as, a heavy load. *Jove lightened of its load The enormous mass. Pope.*

  1. The amount or quantity which a person can carry; the contents of a cart, barrow, or vessel; hence, a heavy burden; as, to stagger under a load. “Three or four cart-loads of stuff, as bedding, &c.” Stow.
  2. That which burdens, oppresses, or grieves the mind or spirits; as, a load of care. “A load of guilt.” Ray. “Our life’s a load.” Dryden.
  3. A particular measure for certain articles, being as much as can be carried at one time by the conveyance commonly used for the article measured; as, a load of wood or coal; a load of hay.
  4. The charge of a fire-arm; as, a load of powder.
  5. Weight or violence of blows. Milton.
  6. (Mach.) The work done by a steam-engine or other prime mover when working at its full power.
  7. (Mining.) A lode or vein. See LODE.

Load-line, or load-water line, the line to which the water rises on the sides of a loaded ship. Syn.—Burden; lading; weight; cargo. See BURDEN.

Lōad, v. t.

verbtransitive

v. t. [imp. & p. p. LOADED; p. pr. & vb. n. LOADING. Loaden is obsolete, and laden belongs to lade.] [A-S. & O. Sax. hlādan. See LADE.]

Sense 1. To lay a burden on; to cause to bear; to charge with a load; to make heavy; to furnish with a lading or cargo; as, to load a camel or a horse; to load a cart or wagon.

Sense 2. Hence, to weigh down, either with what is cumbersome and embarrassing, or with what is valuable; to encumber; to bestow or confer in great abundance; as, to load the stomach with food.

Those honors broad and deep, wherewith Your majesty loads our house. Shak.

He that makes no reflection on what he reads, only loads his mind with a rhapsody of tales fit in winter nights for the entertainment of others. Locke.

Sense 3. To add to the weight of by some heavy, extraneous addition; as, to load a cane or whip; hence, to adulterate; as, the wine was loaded.

Sense 4. To place a charge in; to charge, as a gun, with powder, or with powder and shot or ball.