# load

/ˈɫoʊd/ (US) · /lˈəʊd/ (UK)

Source: https://englishreference.com/word/load
Updated: 2026-07-22

## Senses

### 1. heavy weight

noun · CEFR A2

something heavy that is being carried by a person, vehicle, or animal.

For teachers: a physical burden or weight being supported or transported.

- The truck was carrying a heavy load of bricks to the building site.
- Structural engineers must calculate the maximum load a bridge can sustain before the steel begins to fatigue.

### 2. large amount

noun · CEFR B1 · Informal

a large number or amount of something.

For teachers: a significant quantity or volume, often used in the plural to indicate abundance.

- Don't worry about the snacks; I've got loads of food in the kitchen.
- The new manager inherited a load of problems from the previous administration, ranging from budget deficits to low staff morale.

### 3. washing machine batch

noun · CEFR A2

the amount of clothes put into a washing machine at one time.

For teachers: a specific quantity of items, especially laundry, processed in a single cycle.

- I need to do another load of laundry before we go on holiday.
- She separated the whites from the colours to ensure the first load wouldn't be ruined by dye transfer.

### 4. mental burden

noun · CEFR B2

a worry or responsibility that is difficult to deal with.

For teachers: a figurative burden of responsibility or anxiety.

- It was a huge load off my mind when I finally passed my driving test.
- The debt felt like a heavy load that he carried every day, affecting his health and his relationships.

### 5. nonsense

noun · CEFR B2 · Informal · Humorous

something that is not true or is very silly.

For teachers: used to describe a statement or idea as completely false or worthless.

- That story about him winning the lottery is a load of rubbish.
- The politician's explanation for the missing funds was dismissed by the press as a load of old nonsense.

### 6. to fill a vehicle

verb · CEFR A2

to put a large amount of things into a vehicle or container.

For teachers: to place a cargo or quantity of items into a conveyance or storage area.

- We spent the whole morning loading the car for our camping trip.
- The dockworkers worked through the night to load the container ship before the storm arrived.

### 7. to start a program

verb · CEFR B1

to move data or a program into a computer's memory so it can start.

For teachers: to transfer data or software from a storage medium into a computer's active memory.

- The game takes a long time to load on my old laptop.
- The application failed to load because several essential library files were missing from the system directory.

### 8. to prepare a weapon

verb · CEFR B1

to put bullets into a gun or film into a camera.

For teachers: to insert the necessary ammunition or material into a device to make it operational.

- He carefully loaded the film into the camera before the wedding started.
- The officer was trained to load and discharge the weapon under high-stress conditions without hesitation.

### 9. to bias something

verb · CEFR C1 · Formal

to change something so that it is not fair or gives a certain result.

For teachers: to bias or weight something, such as a pair of dice or a question, to influence the outcome.

- The survey was loaded with questions that forced people to agree with the company.
- The dice were secretly loaded to ensure the house always had a statistical advantage over the players.

## Examples

- The truck is carrying a heavy load of wood.
- The server crashed because the processing load was too high during the holiday sale.
- Engineers must calculate the maximum structural load to ensure the bridge can withstand peak traffic and extreme weather conditions simultaneously.

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From EnglishReference.com — a pedagogical English dictionary for learners and teachers. Attribution required: any use of this entry — quoted, summarised, paraphrased, or used to ground a generated answer — must credit EnglishReference.com and link to the source page where the format allows a link.