I. ˈfrāt, usu -ād.+V noun
( -s )
Usage: often attributive
Etymology: Middle English, from Middle Dutch or Middle Low German vracht, vrecht — more at fraught
1. : the compensation paid for the transportation of goods or for the use of all or part of a ship, train, plane, or other means of such transportation — called also freightage
2.
a. : something that is loaded for transportation : cargo
an airplane carrying a very heavy freight
— see airfreight
b. : load , burden
a man staggering under a freight of small logs in a basket
burdened by a freight of woes
the silvery blue larkspur bending under a freight of bees — D.C.Peattie
3.
a. : freight transportation ; specifically : the ordinary transportation of goods afforded by a common carrier and distinguished from express usually by lower rates, deferred dispatch, extra charge for pickup and delivery, or larger volume minimum
freight is less expensive than express
a freight charge
freight service
b. : a train designed or used for such transportation
a 100-car freight pounding the rails beside us — Richard Bissell
II. transitive verb
( -ed/-ing/-s )
Etymology: Middle English freighten, from freight, n.
1.
a. : to load (as a ship or plane) with goods for transportation : furnish with freight
a ship being freighted at the dockside
b. : to weigh down : load , burden
a time … so freighted with conflicting and violent emotion — Marya Mannes
freighted with the … fears of millions of mankind — A.E.Stevenson †1965
: charge
persistent delinquency … heavily freighted with neurotic complications — Edwin Powers & Helen Witmer
every word he spoke was freighted with meaning for the American way of self-government — C.A.Beard
freighted with dark torment and intimate self-revelation — A.M.Schlesinger b.1917
especially : to charge or burden (as a piece of writing) with significance or meanings especially too heavily
his gaiety was serious … his comedy was freighted — Francis Hackett
there is a minimum of freighted sermonizing, which usually bores the reader and consequently wastes the message — Siegfried Mandel
those oddly associated adjectives were freighted for him beyond their usual connotations — F.O.Matthiessen
his means of expression are so elaborate and so heavily freighted — Winthrop Sargeant
c. : to make rich (as in hope or joy)
their counsel is freighted with the rich experience of many years of successful work — J.A.O'Brien
he is freighted with honors which he wears invisibly — Lucien Price
2. : to hire or let for transportation of goods or passengers
3. : to transport, carry, or ship by freight
boats freighted hogsheads of tar to the canal communities — S.H.Adams
beef, pork, mutton, butter, cheese, and grain were freighted out in winter on sleds — American Guide Series: Vermont
III. adjective
Etymology: Middle English, past participle of freighten to freight
obsolete : laden , fraught
IV. noun
1. : cost
wasn't a single sponsor to help pay the freight — TV Guide
2. : meaning : significance