burden, burthen (old edd. chiefly “burthen”; in several passages there is a play between the sense of ‘load’ and sense 2 or 3, e.g. Gent. I. ii. 82, R3 IV. iv. 168）
1.
freight,
carrying capacity of a ship
All'sW. II. iii. 215
“a vessel of too great a
burden”
; freq.
Troil. I. iii. 71
“matter needless, of
importless burden.”
2.
birth (abstract and
concrete) Err. I. i. 55,
V. i. 345
“bore thee at a burden
two fair sons,”
Wint. IV. iii. [iv.] 266,
John III. i. 90
“Pray that their burdens
may not fall this day,”
Sonn. lix. 4.
3.
bass or undersong
AYL. III. ii. 263
“I would sing my song
without a ”
; fig. Shr. I. ii. 68; refrain
Tp. I. ii. 380
“And, sweet sprites, the
bear,”
Wint. IV. iii. [iv.] 195
“such . . . b-s of
dildos.”
