1. trans. To take off, remove (something carried or conveyed); to discharge (a cargo).
1523. Fitzherb., Husb., § 29. Benes … bounden … are the more redyer to lode and vnlode.
1600–1. in Willis & Clark, Cambridge (1886), II. 483. Payd to diuerse labourers for … vnloadinge great tymber.
1643. Baker, Chron., Eliz., 91. The wealth of an East-Indian Caraque was lately unloden.
1722. De Foe, Plague (1756), 175. The Man caus’d the Goods to be unloaden and lay’d at the Door.
1817. J. Scott, Paris Revisit. (ed. 4), 31. The canal here … admitting large vessels to … unload their cargoes.
1884. Macm. Mag., Oct., 426/2. One … green brig … was unloading shaddocks from Naxos.
b. fig. To discharge, give vent to (feelings); to communicate or transfer to another.
1593. Shaks., 2 Hen. VI., I. i. 76. To you Duke Humfrey must vnload his greefe.
a. 1656. Hales, Gold. Rem. (1688), 159. An Excuse to unlode your faults upon the Devil.
1697. Dryden, Æneis, XII. 1165. Reclined upon my breast, thy grief unload.
1775. Smollett, Quixote, II. 296. Now … you may unrip, and unload, all that lies on your sorrowful heart.
1816. Scott, Antiq., xxii. He unloaded his discontent in such grumblings.
c. To discharge or pour (a liquid). rare.
1603. Drayton, Bar. Wars, VI. xxiv. When som brook … By swelling waters … shouldreth downe his mownd, And from his course dooth quite himselfe vnloade.
c. 1630. Risdon, Surv. Devon, § 42. The river Tale … unloadeth itself into the river Otter.
1891. A. Welcker, Wild West, 68. He unloaded the other bottle of gin into himself.
2. absol. To perform the operation of unloading.
1587. Fleming, Contn. Holinshed, III. 1544/2. Sheluers … pulled downe the courts as soone as they came to the place where it was needfull to vnlode.
1614. Gorges, Lucan, VII. 269. Those streames … spread their springs abrode, And in Timavas flood vnlode.
1635. J. Taylor (Water P.), Very Old Man, B 2. The Harrow, Mattock,… Goad, And Whip, and how to Load, and to Vnload.
1710. Swift, Poems, Atlas, 6. The pedlar overpress’d Unloads upon a stall to rest.
1855. Poultry Chron., II. 500/1. One of the company’s collecting-carts had just arrived, and was unloading.
fig. 1885. Howells, Silas Lapham (1891), I. 83. I was loaded up with a partner that … couldn’t do anything, and I unloaded; that’s all.
b. Naut. Of vessels: To discharge cargo.
1799. Hull Advertiser, 4 May, 2/2. The Wasp has come into Leith harbour to unload.
1865. Milton & W. B. Cheadle, N.-W. Passage, vi. Whilst it [sc. a barge] was unloading.
3. trans. (and refl.). To free, relieve, or divest of a load or burden; to clear of something heavy or bulky.
1591. H. Smith, Exam. Vsurie, 3. When he hath loden himselfe like a cart, he shall be vnloden like a cart againe.
1648. Gage, West Ind., xvii. 114. The Indians helped one another to unload and load the mule.
1697. Dryden, Virg. Georg., II. 554. Besides thy daily pain T’ unload the Branches, or the Leaves to thin.
1751. Labelye, Westm. Bridge, 8. The Commissioners … moved the Board … to unload the said Pier.
1828. Stark, Elem. Nat. Hist., I. 145. He is trained to lie down when he receives his load and to be unloaded.
1894. S. Fiske, Holiday Stories (1900), 28. Unload yourself and pull up a chair.
b. To relieve by evacuation. Chiefly Med.
1653. J. Taylor (Water P.), Cert. Trav. Uncert. Journ., 21. If to unloade your Bellies, Nature drive ye.
1764. Grainger, Sugar Cane, IV. 124. With sempre vive Unload their bowels.
1822. Good, Study Med., III. 437. Brisk purging … unloads the infarcted viscera.
1875. H. C. Wood, Therap. (1879), 441. Tartar emetic is rarely used simply to unload the stomach.
c. To relieve (the heart, etc.) by utterance.
1720. Miss Vanhomrigh, in Swift’s Lett. (1766), II. 289. I must … unload my heart, and tell you all its griefs.
1808. Scott, Marmion, IV. xviii. By that strong emotion press’d, Which prompts us to unload our breast, Even when discovery’s pain.
1816. J. Wilson, City of Plague, I. iii. 40. If thou cam’st hither to unload thy soul, Kneel down.
d. To relieve (one) of something burdensome.
a. 1721. Sheffield (Dk. Buckhm.), Wks. (1723), II. 207. Antony … having a secret satisfaction in being unloaded of such a friend; who was … sometimes troublesome.
1776. Ann. Reg., Char., 49/2. When America is better peopled,… the plains unloaded of their vast forests and cultivated.
1902. Westm. Gaz., 15 Oct., 1/2. A very sagacious tendency to unload himself of mansions rather than to take on new ones.
4. To discharge the cargo from (a vessel).
1599. E. Wright, Voy. Earl Cumbld., 19, in Cert. Err. Navig. Thre of the greatest … were vnloden of their … marchandise.
1671. New Jersey Archives (1880), I. 64. Wheras a certain Vessell or Ship hath … bine unloaden & loaden contrary to an Act of Parliament.
1748. Anson’s Voy., II. v. 173. To assist him in unloading the Sloop.
1836. W. Irving, Astoria, II. 197. Here it was necessary to unload the canoes.
1885. W. H. White, M. Rutherford’s Deliv., iii. ‘Guffy’ … got drunk, unloaded barges [etc.].
5. † a. To discharge, fire off (artillery, etc.). Obs.
1625. Massinger, New Way, V. i. [I can now] Unload my great artillery, and shake … the walls.
1712. Blackmore, Creation, IV. 444. The powder which destructive guns explode, And by its force their hollow wombs unload.
1755. Johnson, Discharge,… to unload a gun.
b. To withdraw the charge from (a fire-arm, cartridge, etc.).
1709. Steele, Tatler, No. 82, ¶ 8. A Pistol which he knew he had unloaded the Night before.
1734. in 10th Rep. Hist. MSS. Comm., App. I. 192. His instructions … concerning unloading the Artillery.
1855. Kingsley, Westw. Ho! xxi. ‘You took care to flood the powder?’ ‘Ay, ay, sir, and to unload the ordnance too.’
6. Stock Exchange. To get rid of, dispose of, sell out (stock, etc.).
1876. ‘E. Pinto,’ Ye outside Fools! 359. Bulls rush in to aid their philanthropic game of Unloading, as we term it, their expensive wares.
1893. Nation (N.Y.), 21 Sept., 204/2. The American passion for speculation—that is, for getting hold of something to be unloaded rapidly on somebody else.
absol. 1888. Daily News, 16 Feb., 6/2. New York…. ‘Bears’ selling freely, and ‘bulls’ unloading, combined to depress values.
Hence Unloader, one who or that which unloads.
1611. Florio, Scarcatore, a discharger, an vnloder.
1880. J. W. Hill, Guide Agric. Implements, 469. An efficient Sack Lifter, Loader, Unloader, and Shooter.
1898. Allbutt’s Syst. Med., V. 24. As in the case of unloaders of grain-ships.
