different between burden vs merchandise

English

Etymology 1

From Middle English burden, birden, burthen, birthen, byrthen, from Old English byrden, byrþen, from Proto-West Germanic *burþini, from *burþ?, from Proto-Germanic *burþ??, from Proto-Indo-European *b?er- (“to carry, bear”).

Alternative forms

• burthen (archaic)

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?b??dn/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /?b?dn/
• Rhymes: -??(?)d?n

Noun

burden (plural burdens)

1. A heavy load.
   • 1898, J. Meade Falkner, Moonfleet Chapter 4

     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.

2. A responsibility, onus.
3. A cause of worry; that which is grievous, wearisome, or oppressive.
   • c. 1710-1730, Jonathan Swift, The Dean's Complaint Translated and Answered

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

4. The capacity of a vessel, or the weight of cargo that she will carry.

   a ship of a hundred tons burden

5. (mining) The tops or heads of stream-work which lie over the stream of tin.
6. (metalworking) The proportion of ore and flux to fuel, in the charge of a blast furnace.
7. A fixed quantity of certain commodities.

8. (obsolete, rare) A birth.

   […] that bore thee at a burden two fair sons.

9. (medicine) The total amount of toxins, parasites, cancer cells, plaque or similar present in an organism.

Derived terms

Translations

Verb

burden (third-person singular simple present burdens, present participle burdening, simple past and past participle burdened)

1. (transitive) To encumber with a literal or figurative burden.
2. (transitive) To impose, as a load or burden; to lay or place as a burden (something heavy or objectionable).

Derived terms

• burden basket
• burdensome
• beast of burden

Translations

Etymology 2

From Old French bordon. See bourdon.

Noun

burden (plural burdens)

2. (music) A phrase or theme that recurs at the end of each verse in a folk song or ballad.
   • 1610, The Tempest, by Shakespeare, act 1 scene 2

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

   • 1846, Edgar Allan Poe, The Philosophy of Composition

     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.

3. The drone of a bagpipe.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Ruddiman to this entry?)

4. Theme, core idea.

References

Anagrams

• bunder, burned, unbred

Middle English

Etymology 1

From bord +? -en (“adjectival ending”)

Adjective

burden

1. Alternative form of borden

Etymology 2

From burde +? -en (“plural ending”)

Noun

burden

1. plural of burde

West Frisian

Noun

burden

1. plural of burd

English

Alternative forms

• merchandize (non?standard)
• merchaundise, merchaundize (obsolete)

Etymology

From Middle English marchaundise, from Anglo-Norman marchaundise, from marchaunt (“merchant”).

See etymology for merchant

Pronunciation

• (General American) (noun) IPA^(key): /?m?t??n?da?s/, /?m?t??n?da?z/
• (General American) (verb) IPA^(key): /?m?t??n?da?z/
• (Received Pronunciation) (noun) IPA^(key): /?m??t??n?da?s/, /?m??t??n?da?z/
• (Received Pronunciation) (verb) IPA^(key): /?m??t??n?da?z/

Noun

merchandise (usually uncountable, plural merchandises)

1. (uncountable) Goods which are or were offered or intended for sale.
   • 1908, Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons, Sessional papers. Inventory control record 1, page 29:

     The custom of giving away merchandise for advertising purposes is greatly on the increase in this country. More goods are now distributed in one year as advertising novelties and as premiums than in a decade 10 or 15 years ago.

   • 1936, Cecil Day Lewis, The Whispering Roots, Jonathan Cape, page 175:

     It has been stated that Fred Beers is giving free merchandise to this store and I believe you will find that one of your inspectors obtained a bottle of milk free when he purchased some groceries on Thursday Nov. 23rd [1933].

2. (uncountable) Commercial goods connected (branded) with an entity such as a team, band, company, charity, work of fiction, festival, or meme. (Commonly shortened to merch.)
3. (countable, archaic) A commodity offered for sale; an article of commerce; a kind of merchandise.
4. (uncountable, archaic) The act or business of trading; trade; traffic.

Usage notes

• Adjectives often applied to "merchandise": returned, used, damaged, stolen, assorted, lost, promotional, industrial, cheap, expensive, imported, good, inferior.

Synonyms

• merch
• wares
• product

Translations

Verb

merchandise (third-person singular simple present merchandises, present participle merchandising, simple past and past participle merchandised)

1. (intransitive, archaic) To engage in trade; to carry on commerce.
   • a. 1626, Francis Bacon, Of Usury

     merchandising , which is the vena porta of wealth in a State : the second , that it makes poor merchants ; for as a farmer cannot husband his grown so well if he sit at a great rent

2. (intransitive) To engage in in-store promotion of the sale of goods, as by display and arrangement of goods.

3. (transitive, archaic) To engage in the trade of.
4. (transitive) To engage in in-store promotion of the sale of.

5. (transitive) To promote as if for sale.

Translations

Related terms

References

• merchandise at OneLook Dictionary Search
• merchandise in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
• John A. Simpson and Edward S. C. Weiner, editors (1989) , “merchandise”, in The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd edition, Oxford: Clarendon Press, ?ISBN
• Douglas Harper (2001–2021) , “merchandise”, in Online Etymology Dictionary

French

Pronunciation

• Homophones: merchandisent, merchandises

Verb

merchandise

1. first-person singular present indicative of merchandiser
2. third-person singular present indicative of merchandiser
3. first-person singular present subjunctive of merchandiser
4. third-person singular present subjunctive of merchandiser
5. second-person singular imperative of merchandiser