different between burden vs plethora

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

Etymology

From Late Latin pl?th?ra, from Ancient Greek ??????? (pl?th?r?, “fullness, satiety”), from ????? (pl?th?, “to be full”) +? -? (-?, nominal suffix).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) enPR: pl??th?r?, pl??dh?r?, pl?thô?r?, IPA^(key): /?pl?????/, /?pl?ð???/, /pl???????/
• (General American) enPR: pl??th?r?, IPA^(key): /?pl?????/
• Rhymes: -????

Noun

plethora (plural plethorae or plethoras)

1. (usually followed by of) An excessive amount or number; an abundance.
   • 1817, Francis Jeffrey, review of Lalla Rookh, in the Edinburgh Review

     He labours under a plethora of wit and imagination.

   • 1849, Herman Melville, Redburn. His First Voyage

     I pushed my seat right up before the most insolent gazer, a short fat man, with a plethora of cravat round his neck, and fixing my gaze on his, gave him more gazes than he sent.

   • 1927, H.P. Lovecraft, Supernatural Horror in Literature (The Aftermath of Gothic Fiction)

     Meanwhile other hands had not been idle, so that above the dreary plethora of trash like Marquis von Grosse's Horrid Mysteries..., there arose many memorable weird works both in English and German.

   • 1986, Lorne Michaels, Steve Martin, Randy Newman, ¡Three Amigos! (film)

     Jefe: We have many beautiful piñatas for your birthday celebration, each one filled with little surprises!

     El Guapo: How many piñatas?

     Jefe: Many piñatas, many!

     El Guapo: Jefe, would you say I have a plethora of piñatas?

     Jefe: A what?

     El Guapo: A plethora.

     Jefe: Oh yes, El Guapo. You have a plethora.

     El Guapo: Jefe, what is a plethora?

     Jefe: Why, El Guapo?

     El Guapo: Well, you just told me that I had a plethora, and I would just like to know if you know what it means to have a plethora. I would not like to think that someone would tell someone else he has a plethora, and then find out that that person has no idea what it means to have a plethora.

     Jefe: El Guapo, I know that I, Jefe, do not have your superior intellect and education, but could it be that once again, you are angry at something else, and are looking to take it out on me?
2. (medicine) Chronic excess of blood in the skin, usually in the face.

Synonyms

• (excess, abundance): glut, myriad, surfeit, superfluity, slew

Related terms

• plethoric

Translations

See also

• myriad

References

• “plethora” listed in the Oxford English Dictionary [2^nd Ed.; 1989]
  Pronounced: /?pl???r?/, /pl?????r?/.

Anagrams

• Althorpe, traphole, tropheal

Latin

Etymology

From Ancient Greek ??????? (pl?th?r?, “fullness, satiety”), from ????? (pl?th?, “to be full”) +? -? (-?, nominal suffix).

Pronunciation

(Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ple?to.ra/, [pl??t?????]

Noun

pl?th?ra f (genitive pl?th?rae); first declension

1. (Late Latin) plethora

Inflection

First-declension noun.

Descendants

• ? English: plethora