[str. pa. pple. of LADE v.] Burdened, loaded, weighed down (lit. and fig.). Often in comb. with sbs., as sorrow-laden; also HEAVY-LADEN.
1595. Maynarde, Drake’s Voy. (Hakl. Soc.), 3. A man entering into matters with so laden a foote, that the other’s meat would be eaten before his spit could come to the fire.
1693. Dryden, Ovid’s Met., XIII. Acis, 118. The laden boughs for you alone shall bear.
a. 1790. T. Warton, Eclog., iii. 94. Where … clust’ring nuts their laden branches bend.
1850. Robertson, Serm., Ser. III. v. 70. The better … impulses of a laden spirit.
1867. Smyth, Sailor’s Word-bk., Luden, the state of a ship when charged with materials equal to her capacity.
1868. Lynch, Rivulet, CLXII. ii. Now mount the laden clouds, Now flames the darkening sky.
1897. Daily News, 13 Sept., 7/1. The laden trains start hence.
