Word.ws English Dictionary

load

UK/ləʊd//loʊd/

load noun: a burden; a weight to be carried. Also the ellipsis of viral load.

Noun (1)

load (plural loads)

  1. A burden; a weight to be carried.
    • I struggled up the hill with the heavy load in my rucksack.
    Synonyms:
    charge, freight
  2. (figuratively) A worry or concern to be endured, especially in the phrase a load off one's mind.
    • Our life's a load.1700, [John] Dryden, “Palamon and Arcite: Or, The Knight’s Tale. In Three Books.”, in Fables Ancient and Modern; […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC
    • I came here with a load and it feels so much lighter, now I’ve met you.2005, Coldplay, Green Eyes
  3. A certain number of articles or quantity of material that can be transported or processed at one time.
    • The truck overturned while carrying a full load of oil.
    • She put another load of clothes in the washing machine.
  4. A quantity of washing put into a washing machine for a wash cycle.
    • I put a load on before we left.
    Synonyms:
    washload
  5. (in-compounds) Used to form nouns that indicate a large quantity, often corresponding to the capacity of a vehicle
  6. (colloquial, in plural, often) A large number or amount.
    • I got loads of presents for my birthday!
    • I got a load of emails about that.
  7. The volume of work required to be performed.
    • Will our web servers be able to cope with that load?
  8. The force exerted on a structural component such as a beam, girder, cable etc.
    • Each of the cross-members must withstand a tensile load of 1,000 newtons.
  9. The electrical current or power delivered by a device.
    • I'm worried that the load on that transformer will be too high.
  10. A resistive force encountered by a prime mover when performing work.
  11. Any component that draws current or power from an electrical circuit.
    • Connect a second 24-ohm load across the power supply's output terminals.
  12. A unit of measure for various quantities.
    • If this load equals its modern representative, it contains 18 cwt. of dry, 19 of new hay.1866, James Edwin Thorold Rogers, A History of Agriculture and Prices in England, volume 1, page 172
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  1. A very small explosive inserted as a gag into a cigarette or cigar.
  2. The charge of powder for a firearm; a loaded cartridge or round of ammunition.
    • With the thought he he arose and removed his rifle from its boot. He looked to its loads and saw that the magazine was full. Then he inspected his revolver.1913, Edgar Rice Burroughs, The Return of Tarzan, New York: Ballantine Books, published 1963, page 79
  3. (obsolete) Weight or violence of blows.
    • Far heavier load thyself expect to feel
      From my prevailing arm1667, John Milton, “(please specify the page number)”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker...
  4. (slang, vulgar) Defecation.
  5. (slang, vulgar) The contents (e.g. semen) of an ejaculation.
    • Already, Robbie had dumped a load into his dad, and now, before my very eyes, was Alan's own cock lube seeping out of Robbie's crinkled but fleshy sphincter.2006, John Patrick, Barely Legal, page 129
    • It felt so good, I wanted to just keep going until I blew a load down his throat, but I hadn't even seen his ass yet, and I sure didn't want to come yet.2009, John Butler, Wanderlust, page 35
    Synonyms:
    cumwad, wad
  6. (euphemistic) Nonsense; rubbish.
    • What a load!
  7. The process of loading something, i.e. transferring it into memory or over a network, etc.
    • All of those uncompressed images are going to slow down the page load.
    • This description represents a form of delay slot: the load operation takes some time to complete, say n cycles. Thus, the value loaded only becomes valid n cycles after the load seems to have executed and can therefore only be read after then.2009, Daniel Page, A Practical Introduction to Computer Architecture, page 614
  8. (Philippines) Prepaid phone credit.

Verb

load (third-person singular simple present loads, present participle loading, simple past loaded, past participle loaded or (archaic) loaden)

  1. (transitive) To put a load on or in (a means of conveyance or a place of storage).
    • The dock workers refused to load the ship.
  2. (transitive) To place in or on a conveyance or a place of storage.
    • The longshoremen loaded the cargo quickly.
    • He loaded his stuff into his storage locker.
  3. (intransitive) To put a load on something.
    • The truck was supposed to leave at dawn, but in fact we spent all morning loading.
  4. (intransitive) To receive a load.
    • The truck is designed to load easily.
    • [I]n his Paroxyſms, as he vvalked the Streets, he vvould have his Pockets loaden vvith Stones, to pelt at the Signs.1704, [Jonathan Swift], “Section XI. A Tale of a Tub.”, in A Tale of a Tub. […], London: […] John Nutt, […], →OCLC, pages 203–204
  5. (intransitive) To be placed into storage or conveyance.
    • The containers load quickly and easily.
  6. (transitive) To fill (a firearm or artillery) with munition.
    • I pulled the trigger, but nothing happened. I had forgotten to load the gun.
  7. (transitive) To insert (an item or items) into an apparatus so as to ready it for operation, such as a reel of film into a camera, sheets of paper into a printer etc.
    • Now that you've loaded the film [into the camera], you're ready to start shooting.
    • Now that you've loaded the camera [with film], you're ready to start shooting.
  8. (transitive) To fill (an apparatus) with raw material.
    • The workers loaded the blast furnace with coke and ore.
  9. (intransitive) To be put into use in an apparatus.
    • The cartridge was designed to load easily.
  10. (transitive) To read (data or a program) from a storage medium into computer memory.
    • Click OK to load the selected data.
  11. (intransitive) To transfer from a storage medium into computer memory.
    • The file took ten minutes to load.
    • This program takes an age to load.
  12. (transitive) To put runners on first, second and third bases
    • He walks to load the bases.
Show 8 more meaningsShow fewer meanings
  1. (transitive) To tamper with so as to produce a biased outcome.
    • You can load the dice in your favour by researching the company before your interview.
    • The wording of the ballot paper loaded the vote in favour of the Conservative candidate.
  2. (transitive) To ask or adapt a question so that it will be more likely to be answered in a certain way.
  3. (transitive) To encumber with something negative, to place as an encumbrance.
    • The new owners had loaded the company with debt.
    • The new owners loaded debt on the company.
  4. (transitive) To provide in abundance.
    • He loaded his system with carbs before the marathon.
    • He loaded carbs into his system before the marathon.
  5. (transitive) To weight (a cane, whip, etc.) with lead or similar.
  6. (archaic, slang, transitive) To adulterate or drug.
    • to load wine
  7. (archaic, transitive) To magnetize.
    • one oscillation of the loaded magnet,1877, Charles A. Schott, Notes on Measurements of Terre Arial Magnetism
  8. (Philippines) to top up or purchase phone credits

Noun (2)

load (plural loads)

  1. (Internet, obsolete) A person that spends all day online. The term was originally used in the late 1980s to describe users on free Q-Link (later America Online) accounts who never signed off the system at great expense to the company.
    • She never logs off; she is a real LOAD!

Also used as

load is also the ellipsis of viral load.

load meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu

load in Hindi

burden
बोझ bojh
number of articles that can be transported or processed at one time
खेप khep

load in Tamil

சுமை

load in Marathi

भार, भारित करा, लोड करा

load in Urdu

لوڈ کریں, بوجھ, لوڈ کرنا
More languagesFewer languages
load in Bengali
লোড করুন, লোড, লোড করা
load in Telugu
భారము bhāramu, సరుకు saruku, పనిభారము panibhāramu, సరుకు ఎక్కించుట saruku ekkiñcuṭa
load in Malayalam
ലോഡ് ചെയ്യുക, ലോഡുചെയ്യുക
load in Kannada
ಲೋಡ್ ಮಾಡಿ, ಲೋಡ್
load in Punjabi
ਲੋਡ ਕਰੋ, ਲੋਡ
load in Gujarati
લોડ કરો, ભારિત કરો
load in Odia
ଲୋଡ କରନ୍ତୁ, ଲୋଡ୍ କରନ୍ତୁ, ଲୋଡ଼୍ କରନ୍ତୁ
load in Sanskrit
भार bhāra
load in Assamese
বোজা büza
load in Nepali
लोड गर्नुहोस्, भारित गर्नुहोस्
load in Arabic
حِمْل ḥiml, عَبَّأَ ʕabbaʔa, شَحَنَ šaḥana, حَمَلَ ḥamala
load in Persian
بار bâr
load in Vietnamese
gánh nặng, chất

Examples of load in a sentence

  • The wholesaler broke the container loads into palettes and boxes for local retailers.
  • You're talking a load of twaddle. Get your facts straight, man!
  • After a very short time, he shot his load over the carpet.

All 40 example sentences with load

Synonyms of load

30 more synonymsFewer synonyms

All synonyms of load

Forms of load

Noun
pluralloads
Verb
third-person singular presentloads
present participleloading
pastloaded
past participleloaded
past participle (archaic)loaden

Past tense of load: loaded

Plural of load: loads

Origin of load

The sense of “burden” first arose in the 13th century as a secondary meaning of Middle English lode, loade, which had the main significance of “way, course, journey”, from Old English lād (“course, journey; way, street, waterway; leading, carrying; maintenance, support”) (ultimately from Proto-Germanic *laidō (“leading, way”), Proto-Indo-European *leyt- (“to go, go forth, die”). Cognate with Middle Low German leide (“entourage, escort”), German Leite (“line, course, load”), Swedish led (“way, trail, line”), Icelandic leið (“way, course, route”). As such, load is a doublet of lode, which has preserved the older meaning. Most likely, the semantic extension of the Middle English substantive arose by conflation with the (etymologically unrelated) verb lade; however, Middle English lode occurs only as a substantive; the transitive verb load (“to charge with a load”) is recorded only in the 16th century (frequently in Shakespeare), and (except for the participle laden) has largely supplanted lade in modern English. For the meaning development from PIE, compare Latin carrus (whence carry) akin to currō.

Acronym of living online all day.

Words formed from load

Phrases with load

87 more phrasesFewer phrases

Words that rhyme with load

48 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about load

What does load mean?
Load means a burden; a weight to be carried.
What is load in Hindi?
Load in Hindi is बोझ (bojh), खेप (khep). See Load meaning in Hindi.
What part of speech is load?
Load can be a noun or a verb.
How do you pronounce load?
Load is pronounced /loʊd/ (US).
What is the plural of load?
The plural of load is loads.

Words near load in the dictionary

  1. loa
  2. LOAC
  3. loach
  4. loaches
  5. Loachian
  6. load
  7. load bank
  8. load banks
  9. load bearing
  10. load cast
  11. load casts

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: load (page history and authors); load (Tamil, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); load (Marathi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); load (Urdu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); load (Bengali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); load (Malayalam, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); load (Kannada, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); load (Punjabi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); load (Gujarati, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); load (Odia, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); load (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-load.ogg.

Cite this entry: “load.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/load. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.