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Woe vs Burden - What's the difference?

woe | burden | Related terms |

In obsolete terms the difference between woe and burden

is that woe is woeful; sorrowful while burden is theme, core idea.

As an adjective woe

is woeful; sorrowful.

As a verb burden is

to encumber with a burden (in any of the noun senses of the word).

woe

English

Noun

(en noun)
  • grief; sorrow; misery; heavy calamity.
  • * Milton
    • Thus saying, from her side the fatal key, / Sad instrument of all our woe , she took.
  • * Alexander Pope
    • [They] weep each other's woe .
  • A curse; a malediction.
  • * South
    • Can there be a woe or curse in all the stores of vengeance equal to the malignity of such a practice?

    Derived terms

    * in weal or woe * woeful * woe is me

    Adjective

    (en adjective)
  • (obsolete) woeful; sorrowful
  • * Robert of Brunne
    • His clerk was woe to do that deed.
  • * Chaucer
    • Woe was this knight and sorrowfully he sighed.
  • * Spenser
    • And looking up he waxed wondrous woe .

    Anagrams

    *

    burden

    English

    (wikipedia burden)

    Etymology 1

    From (etyl) burden, birden, burthen, birthen, byrthen, from (etyl) byrden, .

    Alternative forms

    * burthen (archaic)

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A heavy load.
  • * 1898 , , (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 .
  • A responsibility, onus.
  • A cause of worry; that which is grievous, wearisome, or oppressive.
  • * Jonathan Swift
    • Deaf, giddy, helpless, left alone, / To all my friends a burden grown.
  • The capacity of a vessel, or the weight of cargo that she will carry.
    • a ship of a hundred tons burden
  • (mining) The tops or heads of stream-work which lie over the stream of tin.
  • (metalworking) The proportion of ore and flux to fuel, in the charge of a blast furnace.
    • (Raymond)
  • A fixed quantity of certain commodities.
    • A burden of gad steel is 120 pounds.
  • (obsolete, rare) A birth.
    • That bore thee at a burden two fair sons

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To encumber with a burden (in any of the noun senses of the word ).
    • to burden a nation with taxes
  • * Bible, 2 Corinthians viii. 13
    • I mean not that other men be eased, and ye burdened .
  • * Shakespeare
    • My burdened heart would break.
  • To impose, as a load or burden; to lay or place as a burden (something heavy or objectionable).
  • * Coleridge
    • It is absurd to burden this act on Cromwell.
    Derived terms
    * burdensome * beast of burden

    Etymology 2

    From (etyl) bordon. See bourdon.

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (music) A phrase or theme that recurs at the end of each verse in a folk song or ballad.
  • * 1610 , , act 1 scene 2
    • [...] Foot it featly here and there; / And, sweet sprites, the burden bear.
  • * 1846 ,
    • 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.
  • The drone of a bagpipe.
    • (Ruddiman)
  • (obsolete) Theme, core idea.

    • Anagrams

    *