1. To encumber with weight (literal or figurative); to lay a heavy load upon; to load.
I mean not that other men be eased, and ye burdened.
2 Cor. viii. 13.
2. To oppress with anything grievous or trying; to overload; as, to burden a nation with taxes.
My burdened heart would break.
Shak.
3. To impose, as a load or burden; to lay or place as a burden [R.]
It is absurd to burden this act on Cromwell.
Coleridge.
Syn. — To load; encumber; overload; oppress.
Burden
(Bur"den) n. [OE. burdoun the bass in music, F. bourdon; cf. LL. burdo drone, a long organ
pipe, a staff, a mule. Prob. of imitative origin. Cf. Bourdon.]
1. The verse repeated in a song, or the return of the theme at the end of each stanza; the chorus; refrain.
Hence: That which is often repeated or which is dwelt upon; the main topic; as, the burden of a prayer.
I would sing my song without a burden.
Shak.
2. The drone of a bagpipe. Ruddiman.
Burden
(Bur"den), n. [See Burdon.] A club. [Obs.] Spenser.
Burdener
(Bur"den*er) n. One who loads; an oppressor.
Burdenous
(Bur"den*ous) a. Burdensome. [Obs.] "Burdenous taxations." Shak.
Burdensome
(Bur"den*some) a. Grievous to be borne; causing uneasiness or fatigue; oppressive.
The debt immense of endless gratitude
So burdensome.
Milton.
Syn. — Heavy; weighty; cumbersome; onerous; grievous; oppressive; troublesome.
— Bur"den*some*ly, adv. — Bur"den*some*ness, n.
Burdock
(Bur"dock) n. [Bur + dock the plant.] (Bot.) A genus of coarse biennial herbs bearing small
burs which adhere tenaciously to clothes, or to the fur or wool of animals.
The common burdock is the Lappa officinalis.
Burdon
(Bur"don) n. [See Bourdon.] A pilgrim's staff. [Written also burden.] Rom. of R.
Bureau
(Bu"reau) n.; pl. E. Bureaus F. Bureaux [F. bureau a writing table, desk, office, OF., drugget,
with which a writing table was often covered, equiv. to F. bure, and fr. OF. buire dark brown, the stuff
being named from its color, fr. L. burrus red, fr. Gr. flame-colored, prob. fr. fire. See Fire, n., and cf.
Borel, n.]
1. Originally, a desk or writing table with drawers for papers. Swift.
2. The place where such a bureau is used; an office where business requiring writing is transacted.
3. Hence: A department of public business requiring a force of clerks; the body of officials in a department
who labor under the direction of a chief.
