Overlade

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. To place too great a load or weight upon someone or something, burdening it beyond what it can comfortably bear
2. To weigh down with an excessive charge, so that the thing carried becomes heavier than it should be
3. Archaic term meaning to overburden a person or vessel with more cargo, responsibility or weight than is proper

Etymology: "Overlade" is simply "over-" attached to "lade," a verb meaning to load or burden. The prefix "over-" here carries its ordinary sense of excess, so the word means to load something beyond what it can bear. "Lade" itself is an older English verb, and it is still familiar in the nautical phrase "laden" and in the noun "lading," as in "bill of lading." The verb descends from Middle English "overladen," built the same way from "over-" and "lade." Its close relatives appear across the Germanic languages: Dutch "overladen," German "überladen," and Swedish "överladda" all carry the same sense of loading too heavily, which shows the formation is ancient and widely shared rather than a single English invention.

Synonyms: overload, overburden

Antonyms: unload, lighten