different between excess vs burden

English

Etymology

From Middle English exces (“excess, ecstasy”), from Old French exces, from Latin excessus (“a going out, loss of self-possession”), from excedere, excessum (“to go out, go beyond”). See exceed.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?k?s?s/, /?k?s?s/, /?k.?s?s/, /??ks?s/
• Rhymes: -?s

Noun

excess (countable and uncountable, plural excesses)

1. The state of surpassing or going beyond a limit; the state of being beyond sufficiency, necessity, or duty; more than what is usual or proper.
   • c. 1597, William Shakespeare, King John, act 4, scene 2:

     To gild refined gold, to paint the lily,

     To throw a perfume on the violet, . . .

     Is wasteful and ridiculous excess.

   • c. 1690, William Walsh, "Jealosy", in The Poetical Works of William Walsh (1797), page 19 (Google preview):

     That kills me with excess of grief, this with excess of joy.
2. The degree or amount by which one thing or number exceeds another; remainder.

3. An act of eating or drinking more than enough.
   • :

     And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess.

   • 1667, John Milton, Paradise Lost, Book III:

     Fair Angel, thy desire . . .

     . . . leads to no excess

     That reaches blame

4. (geometry) Spherical excess, the amount by which the sum of the three angles of a spherical triangle exceeds two right angles. The spherical excess is proportional to the area of the triangle.
5. (Britain, insurance) A condition on an insurance policy by which the insured pays for a part of the claim.

Synonyms

• (state of surpassing limits): See Thesaurus:excess
• (US, insurance): deductible

Antonyms

• deficiency

Derived terms

• in excess of
• spherical excess
• to excess

Related terms

• exceed
• excessive

Translations

Adjective

excess (not comparable)

1. More than is normal, necessary or specified.

Derived terms

• excess baggage
• excess kurtosis
• excess return
• nonexcess
• refractory anaemia with excess blasts

Verb

excess (third-person singular simple present excesses, present participle excessing, simple past and past participle excessed)

1. (US, transitive) To declare (an employee) surplus to requirements, such that he or she might not be given work.

See also

• usury

Further reading

• excess in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• excess in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.

Translations

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