load#

load n Load, burden, freight, cargo, lading are comparable when they mean something which is carried, conveyed, or transported from one place to another.

Load is the most comprehensive of these terms, being applicable to whatever is carried (as by a man, animal, vehicle, ship, running water, or conducting wire)

{

the peddler carries a heavy load

}

{

the truckman will deliver a load of wood tomorrow

}

Load is also applicable to the quantity or amount carried (as by a wagon, a truck, or a freight car)

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a ship load of coal

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Burden may take the place of load

{a young man . . . bearing a burden of fruit— Edmundsy but in both primary and extended use it ordinarily takes on some of the notions of the cognate verb (see BURDEN vb) and suggests a load that weighs one down (as from heaviness, unpleasantness, or unwieldiness)

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[the river] carried an odorous burden from the houses, shacks, small mills and refuse heaps along its banks— Amer. Guide Series: N.Y.

}

{

bear ye one another's burdens— Gal 6:2

}

{

his chief burden was a racking doubt of his own legitimacy— Wyndham Lewis

}

{

a woeful burden of debts that plagued her— R. P. Randall

}

Freight applies to goods or merchandise in transit, especially long-distance transit (as by ship, railway train, or motor truck)

{

the wrecked truck spilled its freight over the road

}

Cargo applies specifically to freight carried by a ship or aircraft

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a tramp ship carrying a cargo of grain

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{

the increasing use of airplanes for the shipping of valuable or perishable cargoes

}

Lading is chiefly a poetic or commercial synonym for freight or cargo

{

ladings are protected against shrinkage and leakage— Dun's Review

}

load vb

1 *burden, encumber, cumber, weigh, weight, lade, tax, charge, saddle

Analogous words: bear, convey, *carry, transport

Antonyms: unload

2 *adulterate, weight, sophisticate, doctor