load

[ lohd ]

/ loʊd /

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See synonyms for: load / loaded / loading / loads on Thesaurus.com

noun

anything put in or on something for conveyance or transportation; freight; cargo: The truck carried a load of watermelons.

the quantity that can be or usually is carried at one time, as in a cart: The maximum load for a wagon that size is only about 70 pounds.

this quantity taken as a unit of measure or weight or a discrete quantity (usually used in combination): carload;wagonload.

the quantity borne or sustained by something; burden: a tree weighed down by its load of fruit.

the weight supported by a structure or part.

the amount of work assigned to or to be done by a person, team, department, machine, or mechanical system; workload: An additional intern or assistant might lighten the load for the current staff on this project.

something that weighs down or oppresses like a burden; onus: Supporting her younger brothers has been a heavy load for her.

loads, Informal. a great quantity or number: loads of fun;loads of people.

the charge, projectile, etc., for a firearm.

a commission charged to buyers of mutual-fund shares.

Engineering. any of the forces that a structure is calculated to oppose, comprising any unmoving and unvarying force (dead load ), any load from wind or earthquake, and any other moving or temporary force (live load ).

Electricity.

the power delivered by a generator, motor, power station, or transformer.
a device that receives power.

Mechanics. the external resistance overcome by an engine, dynamo, or the like, under given conditions, measured and expressed in terms of the power required.

Geology. the burden of sediment being carried by a stream or river.Compare bed load.

Slang. a sufficient amount of liquor drunk to cause intoxication: He's got a load on tonight.

verb (used with object)

to put a load on or in; fill: to load a ship.

to insert a charge, projectile, etc., into (a firearm).

to supply abundantly, lavishly, or excessively with something (often followed by down): They loaded us down with gifts.

to weigh down, burden, or oppress (often followed by down, with, on, etc.): to feel loaded down with responsibilities;to load oneself with obligations.

to place (film, tape, etc.) into a camera or other device: He’s the employee responsible for loading and threading the film into the projector.

to place film, tape, etc., into (a camera or other device): The camera operator loaded the film magazine for the shoot, watched by the impatient director of photography.

to take on as a load: a ship loading coal.

to add to the weight of, sometimes fraudulently: The silver candlesticks were loaded with lead.

Insurance. to increase (the net premium) by adding charges, as for expenses.

to add additional or prejudicial meaning to (a statement, question, etc.): The attorney kept loading his questions in the hope of getting the reply he wanted.

to overcharge (a word, expression, etc.) with extraneous values of emotion, sentiment, or the like: emotion that loads any reference to home, flag, and mother.

to weight (dice) so that they will always come to rest with particular faces upward.

Baseball. to have or put runners at (first, second, and third bases): They loaded the bases with two out in the eighth inning.

Fine Arts.

to place a large amount of pigment on (a brush).
to apply a thick layer of pigment to (a canvas).

Metalworking.

(of metal being deep-drawn) to become welded to (the drawing tool).
(of material being ground) to fill the depressions in the surface of (a grinding wheel).
(in powder metallurgy) to fill the cavity of (a die).

Computers.

to bring (a program or data) into main storage from external or auxiliary storage.
to make (an aspect of a program or website) visible, audible, playable, or otherwise executable: Your character is stuck in elevators between levels while the game loads the next world.
to place (an input/output medium) into an appropriate device, as by inserting a disk into a disk drive.

Electricity. to add (a power-absorbing device) to an electric circuit.

verb (used without object)

to put on or take on a load, as of passengers or goods: The bus usually loads at the side door.

to load a firearm.

to enter a carrier or conveyance (usually followed by into): The students loaded quickly into the buses.

to become filled or occupied: The ship loaded with people in only 15 minutes.

Computers. to make an aspect of a program or website visible, audible, playable, or otherwise executable: Is your operating system to blame if your browser is loading slow?

adjective

Computers. of or relating to the process of making an aspect of a program or website visible, audible, playable, or otherwise executable: The page load time was affecting ad revenue.Players have complained about texture load issues, but this should be addressed in the next patch.

adverb

loads, Informal. very much; a great deal: Thanks loads.It would help loads if you sent some money.

OTHER WORDS FOR load

7 weight, encumbrance.

16 lade.

19 weight, encumber.

See synonyms for load on Thesaurus.com

OPPOSITES FOR load

19 disburden.

See antonyms for load on Thesaurus.com

QUIZ

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Question 1 of 7

Which sentence is correct?

His boss, whom he admires, is waiting to meet with him about the big project.

His boss, who he admires, is waiting to meet with him about the big project.

TAKE THE QUIZ TO FIND OUT

Idioms about load

get a load of, Slang.

to look at; notice; observe: Get a load of those crazy shoes!
to listen to with interest: Did you get a load of what she said?

load the dice, to put someone or something in an advantageous or disadvantageous position; affect or influence the result: Lack of sufficient education loaded the dice against him as a candidate for the job.

Origin of load

First recorded before 1000; Middle English noun lad(e), lod(e); originally the same word as lode (Old English lād “way, course, carrying”); senses influenced by lade

synonym study for load

7. Load, burden referred originally to something placed on a person or animal or put into a vehicle for conveyance. Both load and burden are still used in this literal sense, though burden only infrequently, except in such fixed phrases as beast of burden and a ship of 1,500 tons burden (carrying capacity). Both words have come to be used figuratively to refer to duties, cares, etc., that are oppressively heavy, and this is now the main meaning of burden : You have taken a load off my mind. If work feels like a burden, you may be experiencing burnout.

OTHER WORDS FROM load

load·less, adjectivere·load, noun, verbun·der·load, verb (used with object)

WORDS THAT MAY BE CONFUSED WITH load

load , lode

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use load in a sentence

Police found 25 spent cartridges, meaning the 20-bullet magazine gun had to be reloaded once to continue the killing.
Young Girl May Hold Key to Grisly Alps Murders|Barbie Latza Nadeau, Tracy McNicoll|September 12, 2012|DAILY BEAST
They also reloaded, buying bullets at a Walmart as if they were preparing to go down in a blaze of gunfire.
Fugitive Stripper’s Wild Ride|Lynn Waddell|August 11, 2011|DAILY BEAST
It was the first calamity to be constantly reloaded, endlessly refreshed.
Osama bin Laden Died a Fool and Has No Legacy|Dana Vachon|May 6, 2011|DAILY BEAST
The killer “was all out of bullets,” Gonzalez testified, so he reloaded as her child, Brisenia Flores, pleaded for her life.
The Minuteman Vigilante's Arizona Murder Trial|Terry Greene Sterling|January 26, 2011|DAILY BEAST

Glover and the muleteers, steadied by this opportune reinforcement, reloaded and resumed their file-firing.
Overland|John William De Forest
And lifting the rifle he had just reloaded, he sent a shot which struck a tree a considerable distance beyond the Indians.
In the Wilds of Florida|W.H.G. Kingston
As he reloaded the clip of his automatic he ordered quickly.
The Secret Witness|George Gibbs
The later had now reloaded, and, taking deliberate aim again, fired.
Popular Adventure Tales|Mayne Reid
The sledge was got up and reloaded without the loss of a single tin, and once more we breathed freely.
The Home of the Blizzard|Douglas Mawson

British Dictionary definitions for load

load

/ (ləʊd) /

noun

something to be borne or conveyed; weight

the usual amount borne or conveyed
(in combination)a carload

something that weighs down, oppresses, or burdensthat's a load off my mind

a single charge of a firearm

the weight that is carried by a structureSee also dead load, live load

electrical engineering electronics

a device that receives or dissipates the power from an amplifier, oscillator, generator, or some other source of signals
the power delivered by a machine, generator, circuit, etc

the force acting on a component in a mechanism or structure

the resistance overcome by an engine or motor when it is driving a machine, etc

an external force applied to a component or mechanism

a load of informal a quantity ofa load of nonsense

get a load of informal pay attention to

have a load on US and Canadian slang to be intoxicated

shoot one's load slang (of a man) to ejaculate at orgasm

verb (mainly tr)

(also intr) to place or receive (cargo, goods, etc) upon (a ship, lorry, etc)

to burden or oppress

to supply or beset (someone) with in abundance or overwhelminglythey loaded her with gifts

to cause to be biasedto load a question

(also intr) to put an ammunition charge into (a firearm)

photog to position (a film, cartridge, or plate) in (a camera)

to weight or bias (a roulette wheel, dice, etc)

insurance to increase (a premium) to cover expenses, etc

to draw power from (an electrical device, such as a generator)

to add material of high atomic number to (concrete) to increase its effectiveness as a radiation shield

to increase the power output of (an electric circuit)

to increase the work required from (an engine or motor)

to apply force to (a mechanism or component)

computing to transfer (a program) to a memory

load the dice

to add weights to dice in order to bias them
to arrange to have a favourable or unfavourable position

Word Origin for load

Old English lād course; in meaning, influenced by lade 1; related to lead 1

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Scientific definitions for load

load

[ lōd ]

The resistance, weight, or power drain sustained by a machine or electrical circuit. Compare effort.

The power output of a generator or power plant.

The amount of a pathogen or toxic substance present in an organism.

Other Idioms and Phrases with load

load

In addition to the idioms beginning with load

loaded for bear
loaded question
load off one's feet
load off one's mind, a
load the dice

also see:

bricks shy of a load
carbo load
get a load of
take the load off

load

OTHER WORDS FOR load

OPPOSITES FOR load

Idioms about load

Origin of load

synonym study for load

OTHER WORDS FROM load

WORDS THAT MAY BE CONFUSED WITH load

Words related to load

How to use load in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for load

Word Origin for load

Scientific definitions for load

Other Idioms and Phrases with load