Word Confusion: Load versus Lode

Plural for the noun: loads
Gerund: loading

Third person present verb: loads
Past tense or past participle: loaded
Present participle: loading

Plural: lodes

• Freight
• Cargo
• The quantity that can be or usually is carried at one time, as in a cart
• This quantity taken as a unit of measure or weight or a discrete quantity (usually used in combination)
• The total number or amount that can be carried in something, especially a vehicle of a specified type
• An amount of items washed or to be washed in a washing machine or dishwasher at one time
• [Geology] The material carried along by a stream, glacier, ocean current, etc.

A weight or source of pressure borne by someone or something

• The amount of work to be done by a person or machine
• A burden of responsibility, worry, or grief
• Onus

[Informal; a load of] A lot of (often used to express disapproval or dislike of something)

• [a load, loads] Plenty

The amount of power supplied by a source

• [Mechanics] The external resistance overcome by an engine, dynamo, or the like, under given conditions, measured and expressed in terms of the power required
• [Electricity] The amount of electricity supplied by a generating system at any given time
• [Electronics] An impedance or circuit that receives or develops the output of a transistor or other device

[Firearms] The charge of powder contained in a bullet

[Engineering] Any of the forces that a structure is calculated to oppose, comprising any unmoving and unvarying force (dead load), any load from wind or earthquake, and any other moving or temporary force (live load)

A commission charged to buyers of mutual-fund shares

[Electricity] The power delivered by a generator, motor, power station, or transformer.

• A device that receives power

[Slang] A sufficient amount of liquor drunk to cause intoxication

Verb, intransitive:
[Of a ship or vehicle] Take on or put on a load, as of passengers or goods

To load a firearm

To enter a carrier or conveyance (usually followed by into)

To become filled or occupied

Verb, transitive:
Put a load or large amount of something on or in (a vehicle, ship, container, etc.)

• [Informal; load up on] Take, buy, or consume a large amount of

Make (someone or something) carry or hold a large or excessive amount of heavy things

• [load someone/something with] Supply someone or something with (something) in overwhelming abundance or to excess
• Bias toward a particular outcome

To weigh down, burden, or oppress

To insert a charge, projectile, etc., into a firearm (often followed by down, with, on, etc.)

• Insert something into (a device) so that it can be operated
• [Computing] Transfer (a program or data) into memory, or into the central processor from storage

To add to the weight of, sometimes fraudulently

[Insurance] Add an extra charge to (an insurance premium) in the case of a poorer risk

To feel burdened with responsibilities

• To burden oneself with obligations

To overcharge (a word, expression, etc.) with extraneous values of emotion, sentiment, or the like

• Emotion that charges up any references to home, flag, or mother

[Gambling] To weight (dice) so that they will always come to rest with particular faces upward

[Baseball] To have or put runners at (first, second, and third bases)

[Fine Arts] To place a large amount of pigment on (a brush)

[Fine Arts] To apply a thick layer of pigment to (a canvas)

[Metalworking; of metal being deep-drawn] To become welded to (the drawing tool)

[Of material being ground] To fill the depressions in the surface of (a grinding wheel)

[In powder metallurgy] To fill the cavity of (a die)

[Electricity] To add (a power-absorbing device) to an electric circuit

• [In singular noun] A rich source or supply of something

Any body of ore set off from adjacent rock formations

[British] A waterway or channel

The tractor-trailer load was of new appliances.

They were a carload of kids.

The tree was weighed down by its load of fruit.

I do at least six loads of washing a week.

The streams deposited their loads, leaving thin sheets of gravel or sand.

The increased load on the heart was caused by a raised arterial pressure.

The arch has hollow spandrels to lighten the load on the foundations.

Arthur has a light teaching load.

Consumers will find it difficult to service their heavy load of debt.

She was talking a load of garbage.

She spends loads of money on clothes.

The attorney kept loading his questions in the hope of getting the reply he wanted.

There’s loads to see here, even when it rains.

If the wire in the fuse is too thin to accept the load, it will melt.

The base load for electricity is the minimum demand required over a 24-hour period while peak load is the time of high demand.

You’ll be paid a front-end load when you buy the fund shares for your investors.

With all the electronics used today, a home’s wiring needs to be updated to handle the electrical load.

He’s got a load on tonight.

Verb, intransitive:
When we came to the quay the ship was still loading.

The bus usually loads at the side door.

The gun had been loaded.

The students loaded quickly into the buses.

The ship loaded with people in only 15 minutes.

Verb, transitive:
They will load up their dugout canoes.

Stolen property from a burglary was loaded into a taxi.

I just went down to the store and loaded up on beer.

Elaine was loaded down with bags full of shopping.

The king and queen loaded Columbus with wealth and honors.

The odds were loaded against them before the match.

He began to load the gun.

Load your camera before you start.

Load the cassette into the camcorder.

The silver candlesticks were loaded with lead.

When the program is loaded into the microcomputer, the CPU carries out each instruction.

He was loaded down with responsibilities.

If you use your insurance — health or car — your insurer may load up your premium to pay for the loss.

Using girls, bossy, or suggesting a woman is “on the rag” are examples of loaded, prejudicial words.

The attorney kept loading his questions in the hope of getting the reply he wanted.

Politicians and journalists are loading their text and speeches with words to incite a response.

He loaded the dice.

They loaded the bases with two out in the eighth inning.

She loaded her brush with a deep blue and then side-loaded it with white.

He loaded the paint on his canvas with his palette knife.

“Also, miniature specimens that consisted of only the gas tungsten arc welding (GTAW) material to represent the potential formability, i.e., strain, of the weld material loaded longitudinally were tested” (Emi).

The grinding wheel is loaded when metal particles get embedded in it.

Under certain conditions, loading power can have different tap densities.

It was a journalist’s dream in a rich lode of scandal and alleged crime.

“Most of the Logtown Ridge-Mother Lode belt is underlain by marine stratified rocks of Jurassic age” (Duffield).

We’ve hit the mother lode!

“The Cambridgeshire Lodes are a series of man-made waterways, believed to be Roman in origin, located in the county of Cambridgeshire, England” (Wikipedia).

The verb dates from the late 15th century.

The current sense dates from the early 17th century.