Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A weight or mass that is supported.
  • noun The overall force to which a structure is subjected in supporting a weight or mass or in resisting externally applied forces.
  • noun Something that is carried, as by a vehicle, person, or animal.
  • noun The quantity that is or can be carried at one time.
  • noun The share of work allocated to or required of a person, machine, group, or organization.
  • noun The demand for services or performance made on a machine or system.
  • noun The amount of material that can be inserted into a device or machine at one time.
  • noun A single charge of ammunition for a firearm.
  • noun Vulgar Slang An ejaculation of semen.
  • noun A mental weight or burden.
  • noun A responsibility regarded as oppressive.
  • noun The external mechanical resistance against which a machine acts.
  • noun The power output of a generator or power plant.
  • noun A device or the resistance of a device to which power is delivered.
  • noun A fee that a mutual fund charges to an investor when the investor purchases or redeems shares in the fund.
  • noun Informal A great number or amount.
  • noun Derogatory Slang A heavy or overweight person.
  • noun Genetic load.
  • intransitive verb To put (something) into or onto a structure or conveyance.
  • intransitive verb To put something into or onto (a structure or conveyance).
  • intransitive verb To provide or fill nearly to overflowing; heap.
  • intransitive verb To give worries or difficulties to; weigh down; burden.
  • intransitive verb To insert (a necessary material) into a device.
  • intransitive verb To insert a necessary material into.
  • intransitive verb Games To make (dice) heavier on one side by adding weight.
  • intransitive verb To charge with additional meanings, implications, or emotional import.
  • intransitive verb To raise the power demand in (an electrical circuit), as by adding resistance.
  • intransitive verb To increase (an insurance premium or mutual fund share price) by adding expenses or sale costs.
  • intransitive verb Baseball To have or put runners on (first, second, and third base).
  • intransitive verb Computers To transfer (data) from a storage device into a computer's memory.
  • intransitive verb To receive a load.
  • intransitive verb To charge a firearm with ammunition.
  • intransitive verb To put or place a load into or onto a structure, device, or conveyance.
  • intransitive verb Computers To be transferred from a storage device into a computer's memory.
  • idiom Slang (get a load of) To look at; notice.
  • idiom (get a load of) To listen to.
  • idiom Slang (have a load on) To be intoxicated.
  • idiom (take a load off) To sit or lie down.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun See lode.
  • noun That which is carried; a burden laid on or placed in anything, or taken up, for conveyance; specifically, a suitable or customary burden; the amount or quantity that can be or usually is carried: as, a ship's load; a cart-load; wood and hay are often sold by the load.
  • noun That which is upborne or sustained; a burden; a weight resting on or in anything: as, a load of fruit on a tree; a load of learning in the mind.
  • noun Especially—3. That which is hard to be sustained or endured; an oppressive or grievous burden: as, a load of debt; a load of guilt.
  • noun The charge of a firearm: as, a load of buckshot.

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English lode, alteration (influenced by laden, to load) of lade, course, way, from Old English lād; see leit- in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Middle English lode, loade, from Old English lād ("course, journey; way, street, waterway; leading, carrying; maintenance, support"), from Proto-Germanic *laidō (“leading, way”), from Proto-Indo-European *leit- (“to go, go forth, die”), from Proto-Indo-European *lei- (“to be slimy, be sticky, slide, glide, stroke”). Etymologically identical with lode, which preserved the older meaning. Cognate with Middle Low German leide ("entourage, escort"), German Leite ("line, course, load"), Swedish led ("way, trail, line"), Icelandic leið ("way, course, route").

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Examples

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  • "15. To make heavy, as a liquid; especially, to falsify, as wine, by mixing with it distilled liquor of some sort, usually accompanied with sugar and other ingredients, for the purpose of making a thin wine appear heavy and fullbodied; also, to increase the weight of, as paper, or textile fabrics, by the addition of clay, starch, or other extrinsic matter."

    --Century Dictionary

    April 4, 2011