Search the Dictionary

To relieve from something that confines, burdens, or oppresses, as from pain, trouble, obligation, penalty.

eing relieved; the removal, or partial removal, of any evil, or of anything oppressive or burdensome, by which some ease is obtained; succor; alleviation; comfort; ease; redress. He seec the dire contagion spread so fast, That, where it seizes, all relief is vain. Dryden.

To raise or remove, as anything which depresses, weighs down, or cruches; to render less burdensome or afflicting; to allevate; to- abate; to mitigate; to lessen; as, to relieve pain; to relieve the wants of the poor.

ce, an additional clause annexed to a bill while in course of passage; something extra or burdensome that is imposed. After the third reading, a foolish man stood up to propose a rider. Macaulay. This [question] was a rider which Mab found difficult to answer. A. S. Hardy.

A short return or repetition; a concluding symphony to an air, often consisting of the burden of the song.

Hence: To fix as a charge or burden upon; to load; to encumber; as, to saddle a town with the expense of bridges and highways.

rdinate. [Obs. except in law.] Dyer. Servient tenement or estate (Law), that on which the burden of a servitude or an easement is imposed. Cf. Dominant estate, under Dominant. Gale & Whately.

To change the place of; to move or remove from one place to another; as, to shift a burden from one shoulder to another; to shift the blame. Hastily he schifte him[self]. Piers Plowman. Pare saffron between the two St. Mary's days, Or set or go shift it that knowest the ways. Tusser.

part of the back; that part of the human frame on which it is most easy to carry a heavy burden; -- often used in the plural. Then by main force pulled up, and on his shoulders bore The gates of Azza. Milton. Adown her shoulders fell her length of hair. Dryden.

overwhelmed or depressed; to fall slowly, as so the ground, from weakness or from an overburden; to fail in strength; to decline; to decay; to decrease. I think our country sinks beneath the yoke. Shak. He sunk down in his chariot. 2 Kings ix. 24. Let not the fire sink or slacken. Mortimer.

To lie, rest, or bear; to press or weigh; -- with on; as, a weight or burden sits lightly upon him. The calamity sits heavy on us. Jer. Taylor.

Liberty or privilege of tenants excused from customary burdens.

Fig.: To oppress with hardships, burdens, or taxes; to harass; to crush. In a civil war, people must expect to be crushed and squeezed toward the burden. L'Estrange.

ovement; a song; a distinct portion of an ode or other poem; also, the pervading note, or burden, of a song, poem, oration, book, etc.; theme; motive; manner; style; also, a course of action or conduct; as, he spoke in a noble strain; there was a strain of woe in his story; a strain of trickery appears in his career. "…

oulders under; to bear. [Obs.] Nothing surer ties a friend than freely to subhumerate the burden which was his. Feltham.

nt proposition as the object. Whether the condition of the clergy be able to bear a heavy burden, is submitted to the house. Swift. We submit that a wooden spoon of our day would not be justified in calling Galileo and Napier blockheads because they never heard of the differential calculus. Macaulay.…

The act of relieving, as of a burden; support; aid; assistance; help.

A pack; a burden. [Obs.] Beau. & Fl.

To overload; to overburden; to overmatch; to overcharge; as, to surcharge a beast or a ship; to surcharge a cannon. Four charged two, and two surcharged one. Spenser. Your head reclined, as hiding grief from view, Droops like a rose surcharged with morning dew. Dryden.

n of silver money, its value was £243 15s. sterling, or about $1,180. Rowing vessel whose burden does not exceed five hundred talents. Jowett (Thucid.).