BEAST OF BURDEN • DICTIONARY ONE.COM • Definition of Beast of burden

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/bist əv bˈərdən/ Listen

noun

Burden n. (Written also burthen)

1.

That which is borne or carried; a load. "Plants with goodly burden bowing."

2.

That which is borne with labor or difficulty; that which is grievous, wearisome, or oppressive. "Deaf, giddy, helpless, left alone, To all my friends a burden grown."

3.

The capacity of a vessel, or the weight of cargo that she will carry; as, a ship of a hundred tons burden.

4.

(Mining) The tops or heads of stream-work which lie over the stream of tin.

5.

(Metal.) The proportion of ore and flux to fuel, in the charge of a blast furnace.

6.

A fixed quantity of certain commodities; as, a burden of gad steel, 120 pounds.

7.

A birth. (Obs. & R.)

Beast of burden, an animal employed in carrying burdens.

Burden of proof (Law), the duty of proving a particular position in a court of law, a failure in the performance of which duty calls for judgment against the party on whom the duty is imposed.

Synonyms: Burden, Load. A burden is, in the literal sense, a weight to be borne; a load is something laid upon us to be carried. Hence, when used figuratively, there is usually a difference between the two words. Our burdens may be of such a nature that we feel bound to bear them cheerfully or without complaint. They may arise from the nature of our situation; they may be allotments of Providence; they may be the consequences of our errors. What is upon us, as a load, we commonly carry with greater reluctance or sense of oppression. Men often find the charge of their own families to be a burden; but if to this be added a load of care for others, the pressure is usually serve and irksome.

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Etymology of 'Beast of burden'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Beast of burden" Quotes from Famous Books

... cleaned the house, (since Mohammedans detest dirt,) whitened the walls, washed the clothes, and minded the children; others took the fruit to market, tended the cattle, or laboured in the fields, sometimes sharing the yoke of the plough with a beast of burden. Worst of all was the sore labour of quarrying stone for building, and carrying it down from the mountains to ...

— The Story of the Barbary Corsairs • Stanley Lane-Poole

... has nothing to do but to spit at once into the palm of the hand which has inflicted the blow, and all feeling of resentment will be instantly alleviated in the person struck. This, too, is often verified in the case of a beast of burden, when brought on its haunches with blows: for, upon this remedy being adopted, the animal will immediately step out and mend its pace. Some persons, also, before making an effort, spit into the hand in the manner ...

— Archaeological Essays, Vol. 1 • James Y. Simpson

... them, who have seen—nay, but as a king knows conquering; it's in thy blood! Is a bundle of sugar-cane tribute enough for thee, Kumiria? Shall purple trappings please thee? Shall some fat rajah of the plains make a beast of burden of thee? Answer, lord ...

— O Henry Memorial Award Prize Stories of 1919 • Various

... crabbedest of human dispositions. Truly, it has ever been born unto sorrow, bearing all its life long a weight of abuse and contumely which would break the heart of a less sensitive animal in a single week. From the beginning it has been the poor man's beast of burden; and "pity 'tis 'tis true," poor men, in all the generations of human poverty, have been far too prone to harshness of temper and treatment towards the beasts that serve them and share their lot of humble life. The ...

— A Walk from London to John O'Groat's • Elihu Burritt

... back. We know that any inequality which may exist between town and country in the early days of the Revolution will be transitory and of a nature that will right itself from day to day; for the village will not fail to improve its dwellings as soon as the peasant has ceased to be the beast of burden of the farmer, the merchant, the money-lender, and the State. In order to avoid an accidental and transitory inequality, shall we stay our hand from righting ...

— The Conquest of Bread • Peter Kropotkin

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