[1] : The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48

burden \bur"den\ b^u"d'n, n. written also burthen. oe.
   burden, burthen, birthen, birden, as. byrethen; akin to
   icel. byrethi, dan. byrde, sw. b"orda, g. b"urde, ohg.
   burdi, goth. ba'urthornei, fr. the root of e. bear, as.
   beran, goth. bairan. root92. see 1st bear.
   1. that which is borne or carried; a load.
      1913 webster

            plants with goodly burden bowing.     --shak.
      1913 webster

   2. that which is borne with labor or difficulty; that which
      is grievous, wearisome, or oppressive.
      1913 webster

            deaf, giddy, helpless, left alone,
            to all my friends a burden grown.     --swift.
      1913 webster

   3. the capacity of a vessel, or the weight of cargo that she
      will carry; as, a ship of a hundred tons burden.
      1913 webster

   4. mining the tops or heads of stream-work which lie over
      the stream of tin.
      1913 webster

   5. metal. the proportion of ore and flux to fuel, in the
      charge of a blast furnace. --raymond.
      1913 webster

   6. a fixed quantity of certain commodities; as, a burden of
      gad steel, 120 pounds.
      1913 webster

   7. a birth. obs.  r. --shak.
      1913 webster

   beast of burden, an animal employed in carrying burdens.

   burden of proof l. onus probandi law, the duty of
      proving a particular position in a court of law, a failure
      in the performance of which duty calls for judgment
      against the party on whom the duty is imposed.
      1913 webster

   syn: burden, load.

   usage: a burden is, in the literal sense, a weight to be
          borne; a load is something laid upon us to be carried.
          hence, when used figuratively, there is usually a
          difference between the two words. our burdens may be
          of such a nature that we feel bound to bear them
          cheerfully or without complaint. they may arise from
          the nature of our situation; they may be allotments of
          providence; they may be the consequences of our
          errors. what is upon us, as a load, we commonly carry
          with greater reluctance or sense of oppression. men
          often find the charge of their own families to be a
          burden; but if to this be added a load of care for
          others, the pressure is usually serve and irksome.
          1913 webster
see also:
bear beast of burden burden of proof burden load 

[2] : The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48

burdon \bur"don\, n. see bourdon.
   a pilgrim's staff. written also burden. --rom. of r.
   1913 webster
see also:
bourdon burden 

[3] : The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48

burden \bur"den\ b^ur"d'n, 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.
      1913 webster

            i would sing my song without a burden. --shak.
      1913 webster

   2. the drone of a bagpipe. --ruddiman.
      1913 webster
see also:
bourdon 

[4] : The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48

burden \bur"den\, n. see burdon.
   a club. obs. --spenser.
   1913 webster
see also:
burdon 

[5] : The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48

burden \bur"den\, v. t. imp.  p. p. burdened; p. pr.  vb.
   n. burdening.
   1. to encumber with weight literal or figurative; to lay a
      heavy load upon; to load.
      1913 webster

            i mean not that other men be eased, and ye burdened.
                                                  --2 cor. viii.
                                                  13.
      1913 webster

   2. to oppress with anything grievous or trying; to overload;
      as, to burden a nation with taxes.
      1913 webster

            my burdened heart would break.        --shak.
      1913 webster

   3. to impose, as a load or burden; to lay or place as a
      burden something heavy or objectionable. r.
      1913 webster

            it is absurd to burden this act on cromwell.
                                                  --coleridge.
      1913 webster

   syn: to load; encumber; overload; oppress.
        1913 webster
see also:
burdened burdening 

[6] : WordNet (r) 2.0

burden
     n 1: an onerous or difficult concern; "the burden of
          responsibility"; "that's a load off my mind" syn: load,
           encumbrance, incumbrance, onus
     2: weight to be borne or conveyed syn: load, loading
     3: the central meaning or theme of a speech or literary work
        syn: effect, essence, core, gist
     4: the central idea that is expanded in a document or discourse
     v 1: weight down with a load syn: burthen, weight, weight
          down ant: unburden
     2: impose a task upon, assign a responsibility to; "he charged
        her with cleaning up all the files over the weekend" syn:
         charge, saddle
see also:
load encumbrance incumbrance onus loading effect 
essence core gist burthen weight 
weight down unburden charge saddle 

[7] : Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0

430 moby thesaurus words for "burden":
   spenserian stanza, accommodation, add, adjoin, affix, afflict,
   affliction, agglutinate, agitate, albatross, allegiance, amount,
   anacrusis, annex, antistrophe, append, arraignability,
   arraignableness, assigned task, attach, bag, bale, bane, barrel,
   basis, bass, bass passage, bear down on, bear hard upon, bis,
   bitter cup, bitter draft, bitter draught, bitter pill,
   blameworthiness, bloody hands, bob, body, book, bother, bottle,
   bounden duty, bourdon, box, bridge, bugbear, burden of care,
   burden with, burdening, burthen, business, busy, cadence, calamity,
   call of duty, can, cankerworm of care, canto, capacity, care,
   cargo, carload, cartload, case, censurability, censurableness,
   chant, chapter, charge, chargeability, charging, chest voice,
   chorus, clog, coda, coloratura, commitment, complicate, complicity,
   concern, conjoin, content, cordage, couplet, cramp, crate,
   criminality, cripple, cross, crown of thorns, crush one,
   crushing burden, culpability, cumber, cumbrance, curse, deadweight,
   death, decorate, dedication, deference, demand, destruction,
   development, devoir, devotion, difficulty, dirty hands,
   disadvantage, discomfort, disease, disquiet, distich, distress,
   disturb, ditto, division, drag, drive, drone, drone bass,
   duties and responsibilities, duty, embarrass, embarrassment,
   encumber, encumbrance, enjoin, enmesh, ensnarl, entangle, entoil,
   entrammel, entrap, entwine, envoi, epode, essence, ethics, evil,
   exact, exhaust, exposition, fag, falsetto, fasten upon, fealty,
   fetter, figure, fill, focus of attention, focus of interest,
   folderol, freight, freight with, gall, gall and wormwood, gist,
   glue on, go hard with, go ill with, gravamen, grievance, guilt,
   guiltiness, guilty conscience, hamper, hamstring, handicap, harm,
   harmonic close, haul, haunt, haunt the memory, head, head voice,
   heading, heap, heap up, heptastich, hexastich, hitch on, hobble,
   homage, impeachability, impeachableness, impede, impediment,
   impedimenta, imperative, implication, impose, impose on,
   impose upon, imposition, inconvenience, incubus, inculpation,
   incumbency, indictability, indictableness, infix, inflict on,
   inflict upon, infliction, interlude, intermezzo,
   introductory phrase, involve, involvement, issue, join with,
   keep busy, lade, lading, lame, lay, lay on, levy, lie on, lime,
   limit, line, line of duty, living issue, load, load with care,
   loading, loyalty, lumber, main point, mass, matter, matter in hand,
   measure, meat, millstone, mission, monostich, motif, motive,
   movement, musical phrase, musical sentence, must, nemesis, net,
   obligation, obsess, octastich, octave, octet, onus, open wound,
   oppress, oppression, ornament, ottava rima, ought, overburden,
   overdrive, overload, overtask, overtax, overtaxing, overweigh,
   overweight, overweighting, overwork, pack, pack away,
   pack of troubles, part, passage, paste on, payload, peccancy,
   peck of troubles, penalty, pentastich, period, perturb, pest,
   pestilence, phrase, pile, pith, place, plague, plus, pocket, point,
   point at issue, point in question, postfix, poundage, prefix,
   press down, press hard upon, pressure, prey on, problem, purport,
   put, put down, put on, put to it, put upon, put with, quantity,
   quatrain, question, red-handedness, refrain, repeat, repetend,
   reprehensibility, reproachableness, reprovability, reprovableness,
   resolution, respect, response, rest hard upon, rhyme royal,
   ritornello, room, rubric, running sore, sack, saddle, saddle with,
   saddling, scourge, sea of troubles, section, self-imposed duty,
   septet, sestet, set, sextet, shackle, ship, shipload, slap on,
   snarl, sorrow, space, stack, stanza, statement, stave, store, stow,
   stowage, strain, strophe, subject, subject matter,
   subject of thought, subject to, subjoin, substance, suffix,
   superadd, superincumbency, superpose, surcharge, sweat, syllable,
   tack on, tag, tag on, tailpiece, tangle, task, tax, taxing, tercet,
   terza rima, tetrastich, text, theme, thorn, thrust, tire, toil,
   tonnage, topic, torment, trailerload, trainload, trammel, treble,
   triplet, tristich, trouble, truckload, try one, tutti,
   tutti passage, undersong, unite with, upset, upshot, vanload,
   variation, verse, vexation, visitation, voce, voce di petto,
   voce di testa, voice, volume, waters of bitterness, wear out,
   weary, weigh, weigh down, weigh heavy on, weigh on, weigh upon,
   weight, weight down, weight down with, white elephant, woe, work,
   yoke with

[8] : Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary

burden
   1. a load of any kind ex. 23:5. 2. a severe task ex.
   2:11. 3. a difficult duty, requiring effort ex. 18:22. 4.
   a prophecy of a calamitous or disastrous nature isa. 13:1;
   17:1; hab. 1:1, etc..
   

[9] : U.S. Gazetteer (1990)

burden, ks city, fips 9250
  location: 37.31314 n, 96.75503 w
  population 1990: 518 221 housing units
  area: 1.3 sq km land, 0.0 sq km water
  zip codes: 67019

[10] : U.S. Gazetteer Places (2000)

burden, ks -- u.s. city in kansas
   population 2000:    564
   housing units 2000: 236
   land area 2000:     0.526134 sq. miles 1.362682 sq. km
   water area 2000:    0.009121 sq. miles 0.023623 sq. km
   total area 2000:    0.535255 sq. miles 1.386305 sq. km
   fips code:            09250
   located within:       kansas ks, fips 20
   location:             37.314128 n, 96.755377 w
   zip codes 1990:     67019
   note: some zip codes may be omitted esp. for suburbs.
   headwords:
    burden, ks
    burden

Burden >> B Words
Burden, definition of term: Burden
burden_pag1.html

Burden Of Proof >> B Words
Burden Of Proof, definition of term: Burden Of Proof
burden+of+proof_pag1.html

Beast Of Burden >> B Words
Beast Of Burden, definition of term: Beast Of Burden
beast+of+burden_pag1.html