Forms: 5–6 lode, 6 loade, 6– load. Pa. pple. (6 lode, 7 load), 7– loaded. strong. 6–7 loden, 6–8, 9 dial. loaden. [f. LOAD sb. The strong pa. pple. loaden was formed on the analogy of LADEN.]
1. trans. To put a load on or in; to furnish with a burden, cargo or lading; to charge with a load. Freq. in pa. pple. Loaded († loaden) with = laden with, having a load of. Loaded down: weighed down with a load.
1503. S. Hawes, Example of Virtue, i. 19. A shyp … with moche spyces ryght well lode.
1530. Palsgr., 613/1. I lode a carte … This horse is not halfe loden.
1576. Gascoigne, Steele Gl., Ep. Ded. (Arb.), 43. I haue ben streaking me (like a lubber) when the sunne did shine, and now I striue al in vaine to loade the cart when it raineth.
1579. Fenton, Guicciard., VII. 398. Sundrie boates and lighters loaden with prouisions.
1660. Jer. Taylor, Duct. Dubit. (1676), 808. Deploring his condition that his horse being loaden could not run fast.
1775. T. Hutchinson, Diary, 1 Jan. I. 339. A large Dutch ship … loaden with tea.
1847. A. M. Gilliam, Trav. Mexico, 57. The water-carrier loaded down with the weight of his earthen-vessels.
1865. Trollope, Belton Est., ii. 15. The men were loading another cart.
1867. W. W. Smyth, Coal & Coal-mining, 154. Trams, weighing when loaded 25 to 32 cwt. each.
b. intr. (for refl.). Of a vehicle: To fill with passengers.
1832. Examiner, 346/2. Last week the coach travelled nearly empty … [Now] the coach loads better than ever.
1893. Times, 4 May, 5/2. So much is done to study the comfort of passengers by this coach that it always loads well.
2. To place on or in a vehicle as a load for transport; to put on board as cargo; † to carry (hay, etc.). In quot. 1495 transf. † Also with in, out.
1495. Trevisa’s Barth. De P. R., XVIII. xxix. 790. Castors … laye one of them vpryght on the grounde … and layeth and lodyth the styckes and wode bytwene his legges and thies and draweth him home to their dennes.
1523. Fitzherb., Bk. Husb., § 22. He maye well lode oute his dounge before none, and lode heye or corne at after none.
1613. in Picton, L’pool Munic. Rec. (1883), I. 184. Ev’ie freeman may loade and carry goods from the waterside.
1714. Fr. Bk. of Rates, 415. The Dutch Ships which are to have Passports to load in France Wines, Brandy, and other Goods.
1720. De Foe, Capt. Singleton, v. (1840), 89. We … fetched our luggage, and loaded it … into the canoes.
1725. Bradley, Fam. Dict., s.v. Untry’d Earth, Dung … is accordingly loaded in at a great Expence, more particularly in making an Asparagus-Bed.
1743. T. Jones, in Buccleuch MSS. (Hist. MSS. Comm.), I. 402. The whole Army should … have their baggage loaded … in a readiness to march by break of day.
1900. F. T. Bullen, With Christ at Sea, ii. 32. We were to load mahogany for home.
b. absol. or intr. To take in one’s load or cargo. Also with up.
1720. Lond. Gaz., No. 5836/4. Who has now a Ship loading thereof at St. Katherine’s Dock.
1822. J. Fowler, Jrnl. (1898), 98. I then Con Cluded to load up and move on the Road Which We did and on loading up the Horses We find seven Hors loads of meet.
1857. R. Tomes, Amer. in Japan, xvi. 368. The ‘Macedonian’ sailed for Manilla … leaving the ‘Suppy’ to load with the coal purchased at Formosa.
3. To add or affix a weight to, to add to the weight of (something); to be a weight or burden upon; to bear down or oppress with a material weight; to weight, spec. to weight with lead (see LOADED ppl. a.); to increase the resistance in the working of (a machine) by the addition of a weight. Loaded with = supporting the weight of. † To load with earth: to bury.
1578. Lyte, Dodoens, II. xlviii. 205. [The stalkes] being loden [with] litle flowers from the middle even up to the very top.
a. 1625. Beaum. & Fl., Bloody Bro., V. ii. (1639), I b. When thou hast loaden me with earth for ever.
1627. Hakewill, Apol. (1630), 58. So their trees were more plentifully loaden with fruits.
1642. Fuller, Holy & Prof. St., III. xiv. 188. Some rich man of mean worth loaden under a tombe big enough for a Prince to bear.
1667. Milton, P. L., IV. 147. A circling row Of goodliest Trees loaden with fairest Fruit.
1697. Dryden, Virg. Æneid, X. 608. The Phrygian Troops escap’d the Greeks in vain, They, and their mix’d Allies, now load the Plain.
1711. Addison, Spect., No. 15, ¶ 1. The coach was drawn by six milk-white horses, and loaden behind with the same number of powdered footmen.
1715–20. Pope, Iliad, XVIII. 548. The ponderous hammer loads his better hand.
1748. Anson’s Voy., III. ii. 313. We were neither disordered nor even loaded by this repletion.
1793. Beddoes, Lett. Darwin, 52. I eat one-third or one-fourth more than before without feeling my stomach loaded.
1802. Mar. Edgeworth, Moral T. (1816), I. x. 79. A bat loaded with lead.
1825. J. Nicholson, Operat. Mechanic, 79. A machine may be so loaded as just to be in equilibrio with its work.
1860. Tyndall, Glac., I. x. 67. The fresh snow which loaded the mountain.
1871. R. Ellis, trans. Catullus, lxiv. 304. Many a feast high-pil’d did load each table about them.
1894. Starling, Elem. Human. Physiol., 83. The shortening is not very powerful, and can be prevented by loading the muscle moderately.
b. To adulterate by adding something to increase the weight of the article; to make (light or thin wine) appear full-bodied by adulteration.
1860–1. [see LOADED ppl. a. 2].
1887. R. R. Bowker, in Harper’s Mag., June, 120/1. If the paper is to be ‘loaded,’ that is, adulterated with clay or cheap fibres, these are added in the beater as the fibre swirls round and round.
4. To supply in excess or overwhelming abundance with. Chiefly in pa. pple. Loaded († loaden) with: charged, fraught, or heavily laden with; having an abundance of.
1577–87. Holinshed, Chron., III. 7/1. The Danes, being loden with riches and spoiles … departed to their ships.
1611. Bible, Ps. lxviii. 19. Blessed be the Lord, who daily loadeth vs with benefits.
1674. Brevint, Saul at Endor, 263. A Rich Noble-Man, notoriously loaden with Crimes.
1709. Steele, Tatler, No. 69, ¶ 1. If a Man be loaded with Riches and Honours.
1709. Berkeley, Th. Vision, § 71. The air … may be loaded with a greater quantity of interspersed vapours.
1716. Lady M. W. Montagu, Lett. to C’tess Bristol, 22 Aug. The shops [are] loaded with merchandise.
1799. M. Underwood, Dis. Children (ed. 4), I. 288. When they have slept in the same bed with one loaded with it [i.e., small-pox].
1818. Jas. Mill, Brit. India, II. IV. v. 212. He returned to Moorshedabad, loaded with disease.
1828. Scott, F. M. Perth, xxiv. Old Torquil … loaded him with praises and with blessings.
1869. E. A. Parkes, Pract. Hygiene (ed. 3), 93. The air of London is so loaded with carbon.
1882. Miss Braddon, Mt. Royal, II. vii. 138. He would have loaded her with gifts, had she been willing to accept them.
5. To put the charge into (a firearm); also absol. To be loaded: (of a body of men) to have their arms charged.
1626. Capt. Smith, Accid. Yng. Seamen, 32. To loade a peece.
1688. Shadwell, Sqr. Alsatia, V. Wks. 1720, IV. 105. [She snaps a pistol at Belfond] Belfond. Thank you, Madam; are you not a Devil? ’twas loaden.
1799. Instr. & Reg. Cavalry (1813), 271. The same principle of reserving the fire with the front line, till the rear support is loaded.
1804. W. Taylor, in Ann. Rev., II. 262. Several pieces of heavy ordnance, loaden with grape-shot.
1841. Thackeray, Drum, II. xlv. They load and fire.
1851. Illustr. Catal. Gt. Exhib., 1146. At one operation, these caps are loaded with fulminating-powder.
1891. E. Peacock, N. Brendon, I. 145. How many barrels are loaded?
6. fig. To weigh down, burden, oppress (with something immaterial); to clog, encumber.
1526. Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W., 1531), 232 b. He sholde … fixe them in his hert, lodyng & chargynge his memory with them.
1599. 1st Pt. Ret. fr. Parnassus, I. i. 360. And if I live, I’le make a poesie Shall loade thy future’s yeares with infamie.
1605. Camden, Rem. (1637), 39. Neither are we loden with those declensions, flexions, and variations, which are incident to many other tongues.
1625. Bacon, Ess. Superstition, (Arb.), 347. Ouer-great Reuerence of Traditions, which cannot but load the Church.
1632. Lithgow, Trav., I. 5. Load with the filth of dallying Lust and Sin.
1671. Milton, P. R., IV. 418. And sturdiest Oaks Bow’d thir Stiff necks, loaden with stormy blasts.
1777. J. Adams, in Fam. Lett. (1876), 272. I have been now for near ten weeks … constantly loaded with a cold.
1865. J. H. Newman, Gerontius, § 4. Lest so stern a solitude should load And break thy being.
1884. A. R. Pennington, Wiclif, viii. 257. The frivolous vanities with which Confirmation was loaded, led him to speak in a disparaging tone of it.
absol. 1593. Tell-Troth’s N. Y. Gift, 9. A frowne lodeth, and a smile lightneth; to frowne therefore kindly, is a barre to Iellocy: but loading crabbedly, men vndoe themselues speedily.
b. To overwhelm with abuse, reproaches, etc. † Also, to throw blame upon; to charge with something opprobrious.
1662. Gurnall, Chr. in Arm. (1669), 296/2. A few silly men, loaden with the vilest reproaches that the wit of man could invent.
1692. R. L’Estrange, Fables, xxv. (1708), 31. To be Loaden at every turn with Blows and Reproaches.
1697. Dryden, Virg. Æneid, XI. 335. These are the Crimes, with which they load the Name Of Turnus.
1709. Stanhope, Paraphr., IV. 583. They Load his Doctrine with Imposture and Blasphemy.
a. 1715. Burnet, Own Time (1734), II. 272. Every thing was acceptable there, that loaded that Treaty, and these Lords. Ibid., 564. The Design was now formed, to load the late Administration all that was possible.
1726. Swift, Gulliver, III. i. While the Dutchman … loaded me with all the curses and injurious terms his language could afford.
1901. D. Smith, in Expositor, Oct., 282. An angry brother once loaded him with abuse.
7. To heap or pile on. rare.
1580. Sidney, Ps. IX. viii. Lord,… Ponder the paines which on me loaden be.
1671. Milton, Samson, 1243. E’re long thou shalt lament These braveries in Irons loaden on thee.
1852. Mrs. Stowe, Uncle Tom’s C., iii. The more he sees I can do, the more he loads on.
b. Painting. To lay (color) on thickly in opaque masses.
1859. Gullick & Timbs, Paint., 228. In the foreground … the ‘impasto’ should be bold; but in the more brilliant lights, it can scarcely be ‘loaded’ too much.
1872. Art-Jrnl., N. S. XI. 101/1 (Cent.). Masses of white enamel are ‘loaded’ upon the surface in accordance with the character of the details, with a view to further treatment by ‘over-glaze’ tints.
8. intr. a. To collect into a load or heap. b. To become loaded or clogged.
1806–7. A. Young, Agric. Essex (1813), I. 139. The objection to so much concavity or flatness in the fore part of the breast,… is the loose earth of the furrow loading there.
1890. Cent. Dict., s.v., Oysters are apt to load with sand.
9. a. refl. and intr. (Stock-exchange.) To buy heavily of stock. b. pass. To be loaded up: to have large quantities of a thing in hand as security.
1885. Pall Mall Gaz., 8 June, 5/2. One of those cornering cliques which are the curse of legitimate trade across the Atlantic appears to have loaded heavily on the chance of an outbreak.
1893. Times, 15 Aug., 7/4. No banking system could stand being loaded up with rye year after year.
10. Life-insurance. To increase (a premium) by adding a charge (called the ‘loading’) as a provision against contingencies or for other reasons; to charge (a particular life) with a ‘loaded’ premium. (Cf. LOADING vbl. sb. 3.)
1867. C. Walford, Insur. Guide (ed. 2), 260. Table shewing the process of ‘loading’ rates of premiums: also affording a comparison between the English and Carlisle Rates loaded, and the Northampton net Rates.
1897. Allbutt’s Syst. Med., IV. 615. If the body-weight bear an undue proportion to the weight of the individual, such cases are either ‘loaded’ or declined as second or third class lives.
