Emily Dickinson Lexicon

BURD'EN, n. [burd'n.; written also burthen. Sax. byrden, byrthen; Sw. börda; Dan. byrde; G. bürde; Ir. beart or beirt; Gr. φορτος; Fr. fardeau; Arm. fard; from bear; L. fero or porto; Pers. بُرْدَنْ burdan, to carry. See Bear.]

1. That which is borne or carried; a load. Hence,
2. That which is borne with labor or difficulty; that which is grievous, wearisome or oppressive. – Milton.
3. A birth. – Shak.
4. [Fr. bourdon, a drone.] The verse repeated in a song, or the return of the theme at the end of each verse; the chorus; so called from the application of this word to the drone or base, and the pipe or string which plays it, in an instrument. A chord which is to be divided, to perform the intervals of music, when open and undivided, is also called the burden. – Encyc.
5. In common language, that which is often repeated; a subject on which one dwells.
6. A fixed quantity of certain commodities; as, a burden of gad steel, 120 pounds.
7. The contents of a ship; the quantity or number of tuns a vessel will carry; as, a ship of a hundred tuns burden.
8. A club. [Not in use.] – Spenser.