load

[[t]loʊd[/t]]

n.

1) anything put in or on something for conveyance or transportation; freight; cargo:

a truck with a load of watermelons[/ex]

2) the quantity that can be or usu. is carried at one time, as in a cart

3) this quantity taken as a unit of measure or weight (usu. used in combination):

carload[/ex]

4) burden:

a tree weighed down by its load of fruit[/ex]

5) civ the weight supported by a structure or part

6) the amount of work assigned to or to be done as by a person, team, or mechanical system

7) something that oppresses like a burden:

That's a load off my mind[/ex]

8) loads, Informal. a great quantity or number:

loads of fun[/ex]

9) mil the charge for a firearm

10) bus a commission charged to buyers of mutual-fund shares

11) civ mec any of the unmoving and unvarying forces that a structure is designed to oppose, as stress from wind or earthquake

12) elm

a) the power delivered by a generator, motor, power station, or transformer

b) a device that receives power

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

14) Slang. a sufficient amount of liquor drunk to cause intoxication:

He's got a load on tonight[/ex]

15) to put a load on or in; fill:

to load a ship[/ex]

16) to supply abundantly, lavishly, or excessively with something (often fol. by down):

They loaded us down with gifts[/ex]

17) to weigh down, burden, or oppress (often fol. by down):

to load oneself down with obligations[/ex]

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

19) pht to place (film, tape, etc.) into a camera or other device

20) pht to place film, tape, etc., into (a camera or other device)

21) to take on as a load:

a ship loading coal[/ex]

22) to add to the weight of, sometimes fraudulently:

The silver candlesticks were loaded with lead[/ex]

23) bus to increase (the net premium of an insurance policy) by adding charges, as for expenses

24) to overcharge (a word, expression, etc.) with extraneous values of emotion, sentiment, or the like

25) bus 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[/ex]

26) spo baseball to have or put runners at (first, second, and third bases):

to load the bases with two out in the eighth inning[/ex]

27) cmp

a) to bring (a program or data) into a computer's RAM, as from a disk, so as to make it available for processing

b) to place (an input/output medium) into an appropriate device, as by inserting a disk into a disk drive

28) elm to add (a power-absorbing device) to an electric circuit

29) to put on or take on a load, as of passengers or goods:

All trucks load at the platform[/ex]

30) mil to load a firearm

31) to enter a conveyance:

The students loaded quickly into the buses[/ex]

32) to become filled or occupied

33) loads, Informal. very much

•

- get a load of

Etymology: bef. 1000; ME lode (n.) load′er, n.