burden🔊

A heavy load.

A responsibility, onus.

A cause of worry; that which is grievous, wearisome, or oppressive.

The capacity of a vessel, or the weight of cargo that she will carry.

(mining) The tops or heads of stream-work which lie over the stream of tin.

(metalworking) The proportion of ore and flux to fuel, in the charge of a blast furnace.

A fixed quantity of certain commodities.

(obsolete, rare) A birth.

(medicine) The total amount of toxins, parasites, cancer cells, plaque or similar present in an organism.

To encumber with a literal or figurative burden.

To impose, as a load or burden; to lay or place as a burden (something heavy or objectionable).

(music) A phrase or theme that recurs at the end of each verse in a folk song or ballad.

The drone of a bagpipe.

Theme, core idea.