lade

present singular third person lades · participle present lading · past laded · participle past laden · participle past laded

1. To fill or load (related to cargo or a shipment).

   And they laded their asses with the corn.

   1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Genesis 42:26

   2 more examples

   Men from the fartheſt Equinoctiall line, Haue ſwarm’d in troopes into the Eaſterne India: Lading their ſhippe with golde and precious ſtones: And made their ſpoiles from all our prouinces.

   c. 1587–1588 (date written), [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […], 2nd edition, part 1, London: […] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published 1592, →OCLC; reprinted as Tamburlaine the Great (A Scolar Press Facsimile), Menston, Yorkshire; London: Scolar Press, 1973, →ISBN, Act I, scene i

   Under the sea-girt cliffs the shining ship was readied, laden with coats of mail, swords, and gleaming war harness.

   1961, Norma Lorre Goodrich, “Beowulf”, in The Medieval Myths, New York: The New American Library, page 23

2. To weigh down, oppress, or burden.
3. To use a ladle or dipper to remove something (generally water).

   to lade water out of a tub, or into a cistern

   1 more example

   And chides the sea that sunders him from thence, / Saying, he'll lade it dry to have his way.

   c. 1591–1592 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Third Part of Henry the Sixt, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene ii]

4. To transfer (molten glass) from the pot to the forming table, in making plate glass.
5. nauticalTo admit water by leakage.

plural lades

1. ScotlandA load.

plural lades

1. UKdialectalobsolete outside of place namesThe mouth of a river.

   Every trickling tiny lade, every foaming brook, told its own story.

   1873, Henry Kingsley, Oakshott Castle

2. UKdialectalobsoleteA passage for water; a ditch or drain.
3. Scotland(mill lade) A mill race.

   It was also found that scouring had occurred in the bed of the mill lade, which passes between the first and second piers.

   1950 January, “Re-Opening of the Eyemouth Branch”, in Railway Magazine, page 11

4. ScotlandWater pumped into and out of mills, especially woolen mills.

1. A surname.
2. A coastal hamlet in Lydd parish, Folkestone and Hythe district, Kent, England (OS grid ref TR0820).

1. An ancient island off the coast of Miletus; now part of the mainland of Asia Minor.