load

Pronunciation

• IPA: UK /ləʊd/, US /loʊd/^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English lode, lade,^[2][3] inherited from Old English lād (“way, course, journey; carrying, support”),^[3][2][4] from Proto-Germanic *laidō,^[2][4][3] also the source of Old High German leita and Old Norse leið “way, road, course”,^[3][4] from Proto-Indo-European *leit- (“to go forth”),^[3] and related to lead “to guide”.^[2][3][5] Its meaning “burden” came from association with lade “to load”, to which it is not etymologically connected.^[3][2][4] Lode was at first another spelling of the same word.^[6][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Old English lād, a way or carrying, is from about 725, in Beowulf.^[2] The modern sense, that which is laid on a person, beast or vehicle to be carried, a burden: about 1200 in Etymonline,^[3] before 1225 in the OED,^[7] before 1250 in Barnhart.^[2]

Semantic evolution

The older senses went with the spelling lode, and the spelling load is from the 16th century.^[3][2] The quantity usually loaded at once is from about 1300.^[3] A burden on the mind is from the 1590s,^[3] a quantity of drink taken from the 1590s,^[3] and loads, a great amount, from about 1600.^[3] The charge of a firearm is from the 1690s.^[3] In building, the pressure on a structure is from 1871,^[7] and in electricity the power a system delivers from 1888.^[7] Workload is from 1939.^[3] The verb, to put a load on, is from before 1470 in Barnhart,^[2] the late 15th century in Etymonline;^[3] to charge a firearm is from the 1620s,^[3] and of computer programs from 1977.^[3] Get a load of, take a look at, is American, from 1929, in Damon Runyon,^[2][3] and take a load off one's feet from 1914.^[3]

Timeline

• c. 725 – Old English lād, a way.^[2]
• c. 1200 – a burden.^[3]
• c. 1300 – a standard load.^[3]
• a. 1470 – verb.^[2]
• 16th century – the spelling load.^[2]
• 1590s – a burden on the mind.^[3]
• c. 1600 – loads, a lot.^[3]
• 1620s – to load a gun.^[3]
• 1871 – a load on a structure.^[7]
• 1929 – get a load of.^[2][3]
• 1977 – to load a program.^[3]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. Something carried, as by a vehicle, person or animal; a burden.
2. The amount that can be carried at one time: a truckload.
3. A weight or force supported by a structure.
4. Something that weighs on the mind; a responsibility.
5. The amount of work expected of a person or machine.
6. The power delivered by an electrical system or device.
7. (informal) loads: a great amount.

Verb

1. To put a load into or onto: load the truck.
2. To fill nearly to overflowing; to heap.
3. To weigh down; to burden.
4. To put ammunition into (a firearm), or film into a camera.
5. To transfer (a program or data) into a computer's memory.

Word family

• loader
• carbo-load
• reload
• preload
• underload
• unload

Related words

• loaded
• lode
• lodestar
• lade
• lead

References

1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z 27 28 Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b c d Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press