/ ləʊd; NAmE loʊd/ noun , verb
■ noun
STH CARRIED
1.
[ C ] something that is being carried (usually in large amounts) by a person, vehicle, etc.
SYN cargo :
The trucks waited at the warehouse to pick up their loads.
The women came down the hill with their loads of firewood.
These backpacks are designed to carry a heavy load .
A lorry shed its load (= accidentally dropped its load) on the motorway.
2.
[ C ] (often in compounds) the total amount of sth that sth can carry or contain :
a busload of tourists
They ordered three truckloads of sand.
He put half a load of washing in the machine.
The plane took off with a full load .
WEIGHT
3.
[ C , usually sing. ] the amount of weight that is pressing down on sth :
a load-bearing wall
Modern backpacks spread the load over a wider area.
LARGE AMOUNT
4.
[ sing. ] ( BrE also loads [ pl. ]) load (of sth) ( informal ) a large number or amount of sb/sth; plenty :
She's got loads of friends.
There's loads to do today.
He wrote loads and loads of letters to people.
Uncle Jim brought a whole load of presents for the kids.
RUBBISH / NONSENSE
5.
[ sing. ] load of rubbish, garbage, nonsense, etc. ( informal , especially BrE ) used to emphasize that sth is wrong, stupid, bad, etc. :
You're talking a load of rubbish.
WORK
6.
[ C ] an amount of work that a person or machine has to do :
Teaching loads have increased in all types of school.
—see also caseload , workload
RESPONSIBILITY / WORRY
7.
[ C , usually sing. ] a feeling of responsibility or worry that is difficult to deal with
SYN burden :
She thought she would not be able to bear the load of bringing up her family alone.
Knowing that they had arrived safely took a load off my mind .
ELECTRICAL POWER
8.
[ C ] the amount of electrical power that is being supplied at a particular time
•
IDIOMS
- get a load of sb/sth
■ verb
GIVE / RECEIVE LOAD
1.
load (up) | load (up with sth) | load (up) (with sth) | load sth/sb (into / onto sth) to put a large quantity of things or people onto or into sth :
[ vn ]
We loaded the car in ten minutes.
Can you help me load the dishwasher?
Men were loading up a truck with timber.
Sacks were being loaded onto the truck.
[ v ]
We finished loading and set off.
OPP unload
2.
[ v ] to receive a load :
The ship was still loading.
OPP unload
3.
[ vn ] to give sb a lot of things, especially things they have to carry :
They loaded her with gifts.
GUN / CAMERA
4.
load sth (into sth) | load sth (with sth) to put sth into a weapon, camera or other piece of equipment so that it can be used :
[ vn ]
She loaded film into the camera.
She loaded the camera with film.
Is the gun loaded?
[also v ]
OPP unload
COMPUTING
5.
to put data or a program into the memory of a computer :
[ vn ]
Have you loaded the software?
[ v ]
Wait for the game to load.
—compare download
•
IDIOMS
- load the dice (against sb)
•
PHRASAL VERBS
- load sb/sth down (with sth)
••
WORD ORIGIN
Old English lād way, journey, conveyance , of Germanic origin: related to German Leite , also to lead (I); compare with lode . The verb dates from the late 15th cent.