overburden

Etymology

From over- + burden.

verb

  1. To overload or overtax.
    He said the increase would avoid overburdening taxpayers who have subsidised the railways by £31 billion since the start of the Coronavirus pandemic. January 11 2023, Paul Stephen, “Network News: Division over 5.9% increase in regulated rail fares”, in RAIL, number 974, page 16

noun

  1. (geology) The rock and subsoil that lies above a mineral deposit such as a coal seam.
    Such rocks have been changed by baking in a terrestrial pressure-cooker. Then they have been disinterred: kilometres of overburden must have been removed. 2004, Richard Fortey, The Earth, Folio Society, published 2011, page 163
  2. (archaeology) A sterile stratum that lies above the stratum being investigated

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