Word: load Part of Speech: verb Etymology: 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. Pronunciation: /loʊd/, /ləʊd/ 1. To put a load on or in (a means of conveyance or a place of storage). Labels: transitive Example: The dock workers refused to load the ship. 2. To place in or on a conveyance or a place of storage. Labels: transitive Example: The longshoremen loaded the cargo quickly. Example: He loaded his stuff into his storage locker. 3. To put a load on something. Labels: intransitive Example: The truck was supposed to leave at dawn, but in fact we spent all morning loading. 4. To receive a load. Labels: intransitive Example: The truck is designed to load easily. Example: [I]n his Paroxyſms, as he vvalked the Streets, he vvould have his Pockets loaden vvith Stones, to pelt at the Signs. 5. To be placed into storage or conveyance. Labels: intransitive Example: The containers load quickly and easily. 6. To fill (a firearm or artillery) with munition. Labels: transitive Example: I pulled the trigger, but nothing happened. I had forgotten to load the gun. 7. 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. Labels: transitive Example: Now that you've loaded the film [into the camera], you're ready to start shooting. Example: Now that you've loaded the camera [with film], you're ready to start shooting. 8. To fill (an apparatus) with raw material. Labels: transitive Example: The workers loaded the blast furnace with coke and ore. 9. To be put into use in an apparatus. Labels: intransitive Example: The cartridge was designed to load easily. 10. To read (data or a program) from a storage medium into computer memory. Labels: transitive Example: Click OK to load the selected data. 11. To transfer from a storage medium into computer memory. Labels: intransitive Example: The file took ten minutes to load. Example: This program takes an age to load. 12. To put runners on first, second and third bases Labels: transitive Example: He walks to load the bases. 13. To tamper with so as to produce a biased outcome. Labels: transitive Example: You can load the dice in your favour by researching the company before your interview. Example: The wording of the ballot paper loaded the vote in favour of the Conservative candidate. 14. To ask or adapt a question so that it will be more likely to be answered in a certain way. Labels: transitive 15. To encumber with something negative, to place as an encumbrance. Labels: transitive Example: The new owners had loaded the company with debt. Example: The new owners loaded debt on the company. 16. To provide in abundance. Labels: transitive Example: He loaded his system with carbs before the marathon. Example: He loaded carbs into his system before the marathon. 17. To weight (a cane, whip, etc.) with lead or similar. Labels: transitive 18. To adulterate or drug. Labels: archaic, slang, transitive Example: to load wine 19. To magnetize. Labels: archaic, transitive Example: one oscillation of the loaded magnet, 20. to top up or purchase phone credits Labels: Philippines