BURTHEN

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does burthen mean? 

• BURTHEN (noun)
  The noun BURTHEN has 1 sense:

1. a variant of 'burden'

  Familiarity information: BURTHEN used as a noun is very rare.

• BURTHEN (verb)
  The verb BURTHEN has 1 sense:

1. weight down with a load

  Familiarity information: BURTHEN used as a verb is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• BURTHEN (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A variant of 'burden'

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Hypernyms ("burthen" is a kind of...):

burden; load; loading (weight to be borne or conveyed)

Derivation:

burthen (weight down with a load)

• BURTHEN (verb)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Weight down with a load

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Synonyms:

burden; burthen; weight; weight down

Hypernyms (to "burthen" is one way to...):

charge (fill or load to capacity)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "burthen"):

overburden (load with excessive weight)

plumb (weight with lead)

saddle (load or burden; encumber)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s somebody
Somebody ----s something with something

Derivation:

burthen (a variant of 'burden')

 Context examples 

First, because I have been made to learn that the doom and burthen of our life is bound for ever on man’s shoulders, and when the attempt is made to cast it off, it but returns upon us with more unfamiliar and more awful pressure.

(The Strange Case Of Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

For the Lilliputians think nothing can be more unjust, than for people, in subservience to their own appetites, to bring children into the world, and leave the burthen of supporting them on the public.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)

The will was holograph, for Mr. Utterson though he took charge of it now that it was made, had refused to lend the least assistance in the making of it; it provided not only that, in case of the decease of Henry Jekyll, M.D., D.C.L., L.L.D., F.R.S., etc., all his possessions were to pass into the hands of his friend and benefactor Edward Hyde, but that in case of Dr. Jekyll’s disappearance or unexplained absence for any period exceeding three calendar months, the said Edward Hyde should step into the said Henry Jekyll’s shoes without further delay and free from any burthen or obligation beyond the payment of a few small sums to the members of the doctor’s household.

(The Strange Case Of Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde, by Robert Louis Stevenson)