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Unreasonably burdensome; unjustly severe, rigorous, or harsh; as, oppressive taxes; oppressive exactions of service; an oppressive game law. Macaulay.

Not oppressive or burdensome. O. Wolcott.

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. Swift.

Grievous to be borne; causing uneasiness or fatigue; oppressive. The debt immense of endless gratitude So burdensome. Milton.

Oppressive; without motion or ventilation; causing a feeling of lassitude; -- said of the air, weather, etc. If the rooms be low-roofed, or full of windows and doors, the one maketh the air close, . . . and the other maketh it exceeding unequal. Bacon.

To rest upon as a troublesome or useless weight or load; to be burdensome or oppressive to; to hinder or embarrass in attaining an object, to obstruct or occupy uselessly; to embarrass; to trouble. Why asks he what avails him not in fight, And would but cumber and retard his flight Dryden. Martha was cumbered about muc…

eddy water closing in under a ship's stern when sailing. -- Dead weight. (a) A heavy or oppressive burden. Dryden. (b) (Shipping) A ship's lading, when it consists of heavy goods; or, the heaviest part of a ship's cargo. (c) (Railroad) The weight of rolling stock, the live weight being the load. Knight. -- Dead wind…

To rid of a burden; to free from a load borne or from something oppressive; to unload; to disencumber; to relieve. He did it to disburden a conscience. Feltham. My mediations . . . will, I hope, be more calm, being thus disburdened. Hammond.

To render less painful or oppressive; to mitigate; to alleviate. My couch shall ease my complaint. Job vii. 13.

Oppressive or unreasonably severe in making demands or requiring the exact fulfillment of obligations; harsh; severe. "A temper so exacting." T. Arnold -- Ex*act"ing*ly, adv. -- Ex*act"ing*ness, n.

Characterized by extortion; oppressive; hard.

, righteousness, and work, and holds that in good time, without warlike intervention, the oppressive white rule will be removed by the higher powers. The religion spread through a majority of the western tribes of the United States, only in the case of the Sioux, owing to local causes, leading to an outbreak.…

In a griping or oppressive manner. Bacon.

ficult to bear or endure; not easy to put up with or consent to; hence, severe; rigorous; oppressive; distressing; unjust; grasping; as, a hard lot; hard times; hard fare; a hard winter; hard conditions or terms. I never could drive a hard bargain. Burke.

Not easy to bear; burdensome; oppressive; hard to endure or accomplish; hence, grievous, afflictive; as, heavy yokes, expenses, undertakings, trials, news, etc. The hand of the Lord was heavy upon them of Ashdod. 1 Sam. v. 6. The king himself hath a heavy reckoning to make. Shak. Sent hither to impart the heavy news. W…

Overbearing; oppressive; arbitrary; violent; as, a high-handed act.

Any oppressive encumbrance or burden; anything that prevents the free use of the faculties. Debt and usury is the incubus which weighs most heavily on the agricultural resources of Turkey. J. L. Farley.

Easy to be digested; not oppressive to the stomach; as, light food; also, containing little nutriment.

whole machine of government ought not to bear upon the people with a weight so heavy and oppressive. Landor.

In Russia, severe oppressive laws against Jews, which have given occasion for great persecution; -- so called because they received the assent of the czar in May, 1882, and because likened to the Prussian May laws (see Kulturkampf).