bur·den / ˈbərdn/ • n. 1. a load, esp. a heavy one. ∎ fig. a duty or misfortune that causes hardship, anxiety, or grief: the burden of mental illness. ∎  the main responsibility for achieving a specified aim or task: the burden of establishing that the cost was unreasonable. ∎  a ship's carrying capacity; tonnage.2. (the burden) the main theme or gist of a speech, book, or argument: the burden of his views.• v. [tr.] (usu. be burdened) load heavily: she walked forward burdened with a wooden box. ∎ fig. cause (someone) hardship or distress: they were not yet burdened with adult responsibility.PHRASES: burden of proof the obligation to prove one's assertion.DERIVATIVES: bur·den·some / ˈ-səm/ adj.

burden1, (arch.) burthen load. OE. byrðen = OS. burthinna :- WGmc. *burþinjō, f. *burpi (see BIRTH) + -EN2; cf., with different suffix, OHG. burdi (G. bürde), Goth. baurpei. Forms with d appear XII. cf. MURDER; for u repr. OE. y cf. BLUSH.
Hence burden vb., †burdenous, burdensome. XVI.

burden burden of proof the obligation to prove one's assertion; the term (translating Latin onus probandi in Roman law) is recorded from the late 16th century.

See also God makes the back to the burden, white of Chancery.

Burden

a fixed quantity of a commodity; a heavy load; the chorus of a song. See also charge, load, trust.

Examples: burden of armour, 1595; of brass [debts], 1601; of corn, 1523; of despair, 1812; of gold, 1440; of rushes, 1560; of sin, 1303; of sorrows, 1374; of steel [120 lb.]; of thorns, 1449; of verse, 1598; of weeds, 1527.

burden2 †bass, ‘undersong’; refrain XVI; chief theme XVII. Later form of BOURDON, assim. to prec. as if with the notion that the bass or the refrain was ‘carried’ by the melody or the song.