Definition of "burden"

There were four or five men in the vault already, and I could hear more coming down the passage, and guessed from their heavy footsteps that they were carrying burdens.

1898, J. Meade Falkner, Moonfleet, London, Toronto, Ont.: Jonathan Cape, published 1934

Deaf, giddy, helpless, left alone, / To all my friends a burden grown.

c. 1710-1730, Jonathan Swift, The Dean's Complaint Translated and Answered

" […] The quay is upwards of 1,000 feet in length, and capable of accommodating more than 100 sail of traders; and there are generally a considerable number of vessels of from 40 to 300 tons burden, from various parts of the world, waiting to receive their cargoes."

1945 May and June, Charles E. Lee, “The Penrhyn Railway and its Locomotives—1”, in Railway Magazine, page 142, text published 1848

My burdened heart would break.

1591 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Second Part of Henry the Sixt, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies. […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, [Act III, scene ii]

This ſtraunge vnwelcome and vnhappie newes, […] Burdens my heart, and interrupts my ſleepe, […]

1593, anonymous author, The Life and Death of Iacke Straw […], Act I

For I meane not that other men bee eaſed, and you burthened: […]

1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], 2 Corinthians 8:13, column 2

Foot it featly here and there; / And, sweet sprites, the burden bear.

1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tempest”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, [Act I, scene ii]

As commonly used, the refrain, or burden, not only is limited to lyric verse, but depends for its impression upon the force of monotone - both in sound and thought.

1846, Edgar Allan Poe, The Philosophy of Composition

BURDEN in some musical instruments, the Drone or Bass , and the pipe or string that plays it

1740, Sébastien de Brossard, James Grassineau, A Musical Dictionary