Green’s Dictionary of Slang

load n.

1. as a quantity of drink or drugs.

(a) drink, usu. in a quantity sufficient to render the drinker drunk; thus a state of drunkenness in phrs. carry a load, get a load on/in, have a load on, take a load on etc.; thus half a load, a state of semi-drunkenness.

[UK]P. Holland (trans.) Suetonius’s Historie of Twelve Caesars (1899) I 220: He had devised moreover, among other kinds of torment, what time as men by deceitfull meanes had their lode with large drinking of strong wine, sodainely to knit fast and tie their privie members with (Lute) strings, that hee might cause them to swell and be pent in most dolorous paines.
[UK]Rowlands ‘A Shee-Devill Made Tame by a Smith’ Knave of Clubs 35: Out, filthy beast, I loath thy lookes, / And hate thee like a toad; Drunke ev’ry day, ungodly wretch, / And when thou hast thy load, / Call for tobacco, that thou art / As blacke within as soote.
[UK]J. Ray Proverbs (2nd edn) 87: Proverbiall Periphrases of one drunk. He’s disguised [...] He has a jagg or load.
[UK]Hell upon Earth 13: A Noble Lord, greatly disguised in Wine was endfeavoiuring to pass through St James’s Park, the commanding officer [...] insisted upon the Letter of his Orders, to suffer no person whatsoever to pass with a Load, and turn’d his Lordship out [...] accordingly.
[UK] ‘The Frolicsome Spark’ No. 31 Papers of Francis Place (1819) n.p.: My load at the Fountain I got, my liquor was genirous wine.
[US]North-Carolinan (Fayetteville, NC) 18 Nov. 1/6: Drunk [...] obfusticated, laid out, has a load on.
[US]G.W. Harris Sut Lovingood’s Yarns 151: I [...] hear the whisky in me slosh, I know’d I hed my load aboard.
[US]Lantern (N.O.) 8 Oct. 2: Ben [...] keeps a bucket-shop, where bad whiskey can be had for five cents a load.
[Aus]Dead Bird (Sydney) 17 May 2/1: Next time you have such a load as that / Better carry it in a jug.
[Aus]Dead Bird (Sydney) 22 Nov. 2/4: ‘You must have been tanked last night [...] I can go round the town without getting a load on’.
[US]Ade Artie (1963) 101: ‘Package? What’s that?’ ‘W’y, a load, a jag!’.
[US]‘Frederick Benton Williams’ (H.E. Hamblen) On Many Seas 228: When he came down to the boat, he had a pretty good load on.
[UK]Binstead & Wells Pink ’Un and Pelican 75: One dull, leaden Christmas afternoon [...] James elected to ‘get his load on’.
[Aus]Bulletin (Sydney) 27 Jan. 15/1: Brown acquired his load earlier than the rest and collapsed.
[US]J.A. Riis Battle with the Slum 319: Many is the time Mrs. Gehegan had a load on, an’ she went upstairs an’ slept it off.
[UK]A. Binstead Mop Fair 165: I told him he might [...] ring up 55793, Holborn, some time when he had a lighter load on.
[Aus]Sun. Times (Perth) 19 Apr. 4/7: The male residents [...] neglect to go into town and get a liquid load on.
[Aus]E. Dyson ‘On a Bender’ in Benno and Some of the Push 74: We scarcely knoo we had him erbout us, till he’d got his small load, ’n’ was tearin’ orf his rags t’ fight a fifteen-stone mutton ’umper.
[US]Ade Hand-made Fables 128: What is now called Service consisted of cleaning up the Trough and going back for another Load.
[US]H. Wiley Wildcat 103: Cap’n sho’ kin ca’y his gin ration – sho’ kin ca’y a load.
[UK]J.B. Priestley Good Companions 26: Well, you’ve got a load on and no mistake. [Ibid.] 135: You know what they are, and I expect ’e’d taken too many loads on and knocked ’er about a bit.
[US](con. 1900s) C.W. Willemse Behind The Green Lights 128: ‘Browney’ liked his beer and could carry his load like a gentleman.
[US]J.H. O’Hara Pal Joey 10: Some nite some guy is going to get his load on.
[US]B. Schulberg What Makes Sammy Run? (1992) 3: I got back to the office with an awful load on.
[US]J. Mitchell McSorley’s Wonderful Saloon (2001) 37: When a bum is sleeping off his load, you could saw off his leg and he wouldn’t notice anything.
R. Fuller ‘Big Target’ Black Bk Detective Sept. 🌐 There’s always the first time a man makes a careless step, over-confident of his ability to walk a rail with half a load on.
[US]W.R. Burnett Asphalt Jungle in Four Novels (1984) 163: Maybe I had a slight load on.
[US]I. Shulman Cry Tough! 77: He had certainly got a load in.
[Ire]L. O’Flaherty Insurrection 107: Cripes! You must have a proper load on you.
[US]B. Schulberg On the Waterfront (1964) 18: Runty as usual had a comfortable load on. [Ibid.] 123: Big Mac was still sweating off the effects of the load he always took on Friday evenings.
[US]C. Clausen I Love You Honey, But the Season’s Over 49: The Professor’s a wino. You ought to see him when he’s got a load on.
[US]G. Radano Stories Cops Only Tell Each Other 24: ‘One night the captain walks into the stationhouse in civvies. His clothes are dirty and he’s got a load of oil in him’.
[US]R. Campbell In La-La Land We Trust (1999) 17: You had half a load on when you hit that wagon.
[US]Pileggi & Scorsese Goodfellas [film script] 4: A guy gets half a load on. He mouths off.
[US]R. Price Clockers 361: This kid got his load on, staggered out of there with his piece.
[US]J. Stahl Permanent Midnight 249: With a load on Matilda sounded like Orson Welles.
[US]G. Pelecanos Night Gardener 20: It was simply an efficient place to get a pleasant load on.
[US]D. Winslow The Force [ebook] ‘[H]e used to have me drop him off at the White Horse so he could get a load on’.
[US](con. 1991-94) W. Boyle City of Margins 20: ‘I got my load on [...] Let’s sit still for a sec’.

(b) an amount of drugs, e.g. the quantity of heroin required to sustain an addiction.

[US]F. Williams Hop-Heads 40: That’s little Mary. She’s carrying his load.
[US]W.R. Burnett Asphalt Jungle in Four Novels (1984) 179: The load he’d gradually got up to was getting too expensive.
[US]‘Hal Ellson’ Golden Spike 17: They bought a load and shot up again.
[US]J. Conaway Big Easy 202: Why don’t you put that load on me, Dude?
[US]N. Heard House of Slammers 88: I’ll need a load to take on the road — / I’m travelin’ with a band, y’know.
[US](con. 1975–6) E. Little Steel Toes 45: Reaching into his pocket and pulling out four Doriden and twelve codeines, says, ‘Almost a full load apiece.’.

(c) an injection.

[US]C.G. Givens ‘Chatter of Guns’ in Sat. Eve. Post 13 Apr.; list extracted in AS VI:2 (1930) 133: load, a. Charge of dope.
[US]‘Paul Cain’ Fast One (1936) 206: Maybe I’d better have one more load in the arm, Doc.
[US]D. Maurer ‘Lang. of the Und. Narcotic Addict’ Pt 2 in Lang. Und. (1981) 105/2: load. A ration of narcotics. Restricted to needle-addicts.
[US]Monteleone Criminal Sl. (rev. edn).
[US]J.E. Schmidt Narcotics Lingo and Lore.
[Scot](con. 1980s) I. Welsh Skagboys 81: There’s a load bein cooked up intae this big syringe n it’s comin ma way.
[US](con. 1962) J. Ellroy Enchanters 185: Her dope load hit. Her eyeballs pinned.

(d) 25 or 30 packs of heroin held together in a bundle, the equivalent of an ounce weight.

[US]R.R. Lingeman Drugs from A to Z (1970) 143: load Twenty-five to thirty decks (packets) of heroin staked and fastened together with a rubber band for delivery.
[US]G. Scott-Heron Vulture (1996) 76: The dealer met his load in a different spot every day.
[US]ONDCP Street Terms 14: Load — 25 bags of heroin.

(e) as sense 1a in context of marijuana.

[US]L. Block Diet of Treacle (2008) 129: So he got up, carrying a good load from the pot he had smoked but carrying it easily, understanding it.

2. (UK Und.) one’s personal possessions or money, also the proceeds of a crime.

[UK]D. Carey Life in Paris 23: The happy author of this metamorphosis was despatched with his pockets weightier and his load considerably lighter than when he arrived.
[US]D. Jenkins Baja Oklahoma 53: Aspen, as he sized it up, was where he could make a load and become a civilian again.

3. as abbr. of ‘load of rubbish,’ ‘load of nonsense,’load of shit,’ etc.

(a) (US campus) a practical joke.

[US]L.H. Bagg Four Years at Yale 45: Load, a practical joke, a sell.

(b) (US) an old, discontinued model or a run-down, dilapidated vehicle or a stolen car.

[US]D. Runyon ‘The Brakeman’s Daughter’ in Runyon on Broadway (1954) 503: Big False Face secures a position with the late Crowbar Connolly, riding loads down out of Canada.
[US]Goldin et al. DAUL 127/1: Load, n. [...] 2. A stolen automobile.

(c) (orig. US) utter nonsense; a prevarication.

[US]AS VIII:1 (1933) 31: Load. To deceive by yarns of windies. Also, a prevarication, a prevaricator.
[US](con. 1969) M. Herr Dispatches 20: All that’s just a load, man. We’re here to kill gooks. Period.
[US]J.E. Lawson Last Burn in Hell 22: It was a total load, but this is the world we live in, right?

(d) (orig. US black) an automobile.

[US]I. Shulman Cry Tough! 140: What a load! [...] Don’t tell me it’s yours!
[US](con. 1948) G. Mandel Flee the Angry Strangers 191: This load handles like a pair of shoes. Look, we doin seventy.
[US]H. Selby Jr Last Exit to Brooklyn 12: Ya shoulda seen this load. Chartreuse with white walls.
[US]UGK ‘Good Stuff’ 🎵 Mafioso puttin’ bombs under my load.

(e) (US) a stupid, ridiculous or contemptible person.

[US]Goldin et al. DAUL.
[UK]K. Amis letter 30 July in Leader (2000) 541: Old LPH [Hartley] is a load, isn’t he? Never gets anywhere near starting to get around to giving the impression that he might be capable of writing anything you might want to read, does he?
[US]Current Sl. I:1 3/2: Load A dull companion.
[US]Eble Campus Sl. Oct. 4: load – a pest.

(f) (Aus. Und.) fabricated evidence.

[Aus]Bulletin (Sydney) 26 Apr. 44: ‘Nod your nut. Pig?’ ‘No chance. The jacks gave me a nice load and tidied me up with verbal for desert. No way I’ll get my head down to a load.’.

4. in context of the body or bodily fluids [SE loaded, to be burdened with, to be weighed down. Note late 19C use of load, measles, smallpox].

(a) (US) faeces, a bowel movement.

[UK]Peeping Tom (London) 38 151/2: [headline] The Gentleman taken short [...] [D]own sat the gentleman, and deposited his load.
in G.C. Rable Civil Wars (1989) 162: [...] pulled down his pants and emptied his bowels of [a] stinking load.
[US]‘J.M. Hall’ Anecdota Americana I 166: I guess I’d better lay my load on the floor [...] and clean it up in the morning.
[US](con. 1920s–30s) J.O. Killens Youngblood (1956) 473: He just wouldn’t take a healthy shit if Mr. Charlie told him not to. He’d walk around with a load in his britches.
[US]B. Jackson Get Your Ass in the Water (1974) 106: You can’t look up a she-mule’s ass and tell the load she’ll pull.
[US]T. Berger Sneaky People (1980) 210: See you still walk like you got a load in your pants.
[US]A. Vachss Hard Candy (1990) 28: I had a system for leaving dry dog food [...] but depositing her loads was always a problem.
[US]S. King Dolores Claiborne 27: You had to get up there [...] before she popped her clutch and dumped a load into those big old continence pants she wore.
[Ire]P. Howard Miseducation of Ross O’Carroll-Kelly (2004) 29: He looks at me, roysh, like I’ve just dropped a load in one of his Dubes.

(b) (orig. Aus.) a bout of venereal disease.

[UK]Partridge DSUE (1984) 691: late C.19–20.
[Aus]Baker Popular Dict. Aus. Sl.
[Aus](con. 1940s) T.A.G. Hungerford Sowers of the Wind 141: It’s tough luck, copping two loads inside a few months.
[Aus]D. Ireland Glass Canoe (1982) 14: Around that time he copped a load at some harlot’s place at Burwood.
[Aus]Tupper & Wortley Aus. Prison Sl. Gloss. 🌐 Load. 2. Venereal disease. As in ‘to cop a load’.

(c) (US) an ejaculation of semen or an orgasm (of either sex).

[US] in P. Smith Letter from My Father (1978) 47: She jerked me off – I shot a pretty healthy load.
[US] Transcript Dunn Inq. in L.R. Murphy Perverts by Official Order (1989) 81: He [...] started to suck me off. After I had a discharge, I pulled away from him, and he spit the load out . . .
[US]‘J.M. Hall’ Anecdota Americana I 90: Dropped one load. Got my hard on.
[US] (ref. to 1868) N. Kimball Amer. Madam (1981) 88: They wanted to hold a young girl in their arms, go through the motions, and having spent their load, would politely thank you.
[US] in Randolph & Legman Ozark Folksongs and Folklore (1992) II 628: Many the loads that have vanished / After the ball.
[US]B. Jackson Get Your Ass in the Water (1974) 151: The day of the funeral all the undertakers frowned / ’cause they had to jack him off to let the coffin top down. / He shot up a load.
[US]San Diego Sailor 8: It finally got so I’d have to yank every so often to get rid of my load.
[US]N. Eastwood Gardener Got Her n.p.: ‘Nnnnhhhhh, take my load, baby — unnngggghhhhh!’ Mike bellowed.
review of film ‘Total Corruption’ HisXpress.com 🌐 Damien and Marco do an all oral/jo scene producing two great loads.
[US](con. 1962) J. Ellroy Enchanters 222: He jacked off and shot his load into underwear drawers.

(d) (US) a very fat person.

[US]A. Kober That Man is Here Again 95: Boy, what a load!
[US]Current Sl. III–IV (Cumulation Issue) 79: Load, n. An unattractive male.
[US]B. Gutcheon New Girls (1982) 75: God, I’m a load.
[US]Eble Campus Sl. Fall 4: load – fat person.

(e) (US black) a large amount of semen in the testes.

[US] in E. Cray Erotic Muse (1992) 344: I started for town with a heavy load and jacked off twice along the road.
[US]R. Klein Jailhouse Jargon and Street Sl. [unpub. ms.].

(f) a large penis.

[US]J. Wambaugh Choirboys (1976) 291: I know you ain’t got a load [...] You walk into a wall with your little hard on and you’ll break your nose.

(g) (US black) the intense urge to have sex.

[US]R. Klein Jailhouse Jargon and Street Sl. [unpub. ms.].

(h) (US) a heavily built, muscled person.

[US](con. 1963) L. Berney November Road 250: ‘He [...] works construction. You think I’m a load, you should see Paulie. I’m the runt of the family’.

In compounds

In phrases

blow (off) one’s load (v.)

1. usu. of a man, to ejaculate, to come to orgasm.

[US]San Diego Sailor 17: Just before I started to blow my load, he began doing somethings [sic] to my nuts with his fingers.
[US]‘Victoria Parker’ Pay for Play Cheerleaders 🌐 Nancy kept cumming. Chrissie kept cumming. And Mr. Towson blew off his load. [Ibid.] Travis blew his load in Jill’s asshole.
[Aus]B. Moore Lex. of Cadet Lang. 46: blow2 to ejaculate — as in the common expression ‘he blew his load’.
[Scot]I. Welsh Filth 149: I eventually manage to get it up and blow my load after a few strokes.
[Aus] www.thepantsman.com 🌐 Trust me, the conversation will come to a screeching halt and you can concentrate on blowing your load.
[UK]R. Milward Ten Storey Love Song 164: I keep blowing my load dead early, or I can’t get it up.
[US]J. Díaz This Is How You Lose Her 160: You really do have an excellent body, you say after you blow your load.
[Aus]me-stepmums-too-fuckin-hot-mate at www.fakku.net 🌐 Fuck me sideways! I’m blowin’ a load in Kasumi’s cakehole!

2. to expend extreme emotion.

I. Dunt in Twitter 24 June 🌐 But you can't blow your load demanding Labour campaign for the single market now.
bust a/one’s load (v.)

to ejaculate.

[US]UGK ‘976-Bun B’ 🎵 So let me bust a fat load on your bellybutton.
[US]G. Pelecanos Night Gardener 329: Busting my load into some whore’s mouth.
carrying a load (adj.)

drunk.

[US]‘O. Henry’ ‘From the Cabby’s Seat’ in Four Million (1915) 167: It was plain that Jerry had usurped the functions of his cab, and was carrying a ‘load’.
[US]D.W. Hamilton ‘Pacific War Lang.’ in AS XXII:1 Feb. 54: carrying a load, Drunk.
[US] ‘The Soughrty Peaks’ in G. Logsdon Whorehouse Bells Were Ringing (1995) 130–1: ’Twas the good old days when an old cowboy / Could wet up his old inside / They started in at the Kentucky Bar [...] Then they got their horses and started out, / Carrying a pretty good load.
catch a load of (v.)

(US) to catch sight of; also in fig. use, to register, to take note of.

[US](con. 1920s) J.T. Farrell Judgement Day in Studs Lonigan (1936) 465: Studs thought that the hick villagers [...] might have caught a load of him from the window.
G. Bagby Corpse with Sticky Fingers 114: ‘I don't seem to know Mitzi,’ Schmitty said quietly. ‘Flatfoot,’ she chuckled, ‘you been missing a trick. You want to catch a load of her’.
G. Selden Irma & Jerry 113: Will you catch a load of him? [...] Three months in New York and alread a snoby .
[US](con. 1969) N.L. Russell Suicide Charlie 4: Then they’d call over their friends, shouting, ‘Hey, catch a load of this dude. Dead meat.’.
chuck one’s load (v.) [SE chuck/chuck v.2 (16)]

to ejaculate.

L. Callinan ‘Kelly’s Bar Jokes’ at Kellys.com 🌐 Next thing he feels two lips on his knob, and as he’s getting sucked off, he’s hearing ‘Don’t cry for me Argentina...’. Guy thinks ‘This is fucking great’ and he chucks his load, zips up and walks outside.
come one’s load (v.)

to ejaculate.

[US]R. Desmond Without Violence 208: You’d come your load free of charge without making it worth my while to lose the most precious thing a girl possesses.
[UK]B. Aldiss Soldier Erect n.p.: [A] knee-trembler should have been perfectly feasible, provided I didn’t come my load before I got in.
[US]D. Alexander Ground Zero 52: He pumped it between her tits and came his load all over her face.
[UK]K. Sampson Outlaws 155: [S]he’s fucking madly into this whole carry-on and I feel like I’m going to come my load any second.
[US]Q.B. Wells Blackface 143: He moaned and stroked twice before he came, his load dripping down the side of her leg.
[UK]P. Jaggs Psycho: Pattaya Bar Girl [ebook] ‘The only way he can possibly come his load is if a beautiful girl flogs his buttocks until they are red raw and bloody’.
drop one’s load (v.)

1. to give birth.

[UK] ‘Wake at Kildare’ in Bold (1979) 234: Six months passed, noine months passed, / Our wee Nellie, she dropped her load at last!

2. to have a miscarriage.

[UK]J. Curtis There Ain’t No Justice 273: Me sister in the pudden club and I go and get an old woman to make her drop her load.

3. (US black, also drop it) to ejaculate, to have sexual intercourse.

[US]H. Miller Sexus (1969) 256: Listen, I don’t hold it against you about Dolores, but ... but don’t be dropping it here while I’m away, see!
[US]J. Jones From Here to Eternity (1998) 845: They had already made their bomb run on the whorehouses and dropped their load on Mrs Kipfer’s New Congress.
[NZ]McGill Dict. of Kiwi Sl. 40/1: drop one’s load a male ejaculation; eg ‘Corky’s your one-night stand type – drops his load and off, never seen again.’.
[US]B. McCarthy Vice Cop 122: A report would land on your desk that the gay child of some prominent person may have gotten himself in big trouble by dropping his load where he shouldn’t have .
[NZ]McGill Reed Dict. of N.Z. Sl. [as cit. 1988].

4. (also drop one) to defecate.

[US]Baker et al. CUSS 109: Drop a load [...] Drop one Defecate.
[US]J. Sayles Union Dues (1978) 19: I’ll retire to the sanitary facilities [...] Got to drop a load.
OnLine Dict. of Playground Sl. 🌐 In days of old, / When knights were bold / And toilets weren’t invented. / They’d drop their load / By side of road / And walk away contented.

5. (also drop a load) to experience a shock.

[US]R. Price Blood Brothers 20: Stony finished his drink as Cheri walked in dressed in tight dungarees and a white silky blouse [...] Stony dropped a load.

6. to act in a cowardly manner; synon. with shit one’s load under shit v.

[UK]K. Sampson Awaydays 87: I was closest to him and I had the distinct impression that he dropped his load.
get a load of (v.) (also take a load of)

1. (orig. US) to notice, to look at deliberately.

[US]H.C. Witwer Yes Man’s Land 103: Just have ’em get a load of you in your next movie.
C.J. Kenny This Is Murder 95: ‘Damn you!’ said a man’s [...] voice. ‘Get a load of this!’ Moraine saw light glitter from nickel-plated steel, as the gun was pushed into his stomach.
[UK]‘Henry Green’ Loving (1978) 88: Lifting the piece of broken mirror glass off a wall [...] she said ‘Take a load of yourself while I do yer’.
[US]Mad mag. Jan.–Feb. 3: When John Law gets a load of this comic book you can bet many a comic book worker will be running from the Dragged Net.
[Aus]F.J. Hardy Yarns of Billy Borker 147: How would I be? How would you expect me to be? Get a load of me, will you?
[US]J.D. Horan Blue Messiah 151: Wait till Chena gets a load of that.
[Aus]M. Bail Homesickness (1999) 143: Get a load of this. They don’t suit me, that’s for sure.
[Aus]J. Byrell Lairs, Urgers & Coat-Tuggers 66: And when the Members’ charlies or cheeses got a load of Lady Cynthia they all started doing likewise for an entirely different reason.
[UK]N. Cohn Yes We Have No 78: The guy scrambles in the back, then he gets a load of you.
[US]‘Randy Everhard’ Tattoo of a Naked Lady 60: Get a load of ole spaghetti arms!

2. (orig. US) a demand that one’s audience listen to something or notice an event; usu. in a sexual context, e.g. get a load of that! and usu. between males.

[US]T.A. Dorgan in Zwilling TAD Lex. (1993) 54: Get a load of that guy Phil.
[US]J.T. Farrell ‘Looking ’Em Over’ in Short Stories (1937) 54: Get a load of that in the Chrysler.
[US]E.S. Gardner ‘Leg Man’ in Ruhm Hard-Boiled Detective (1977) 126: All right, get a load of this: You’re being stood up.
[US]Mezzrow & Wolfe Really the Blues 117: Get a load of that – let’s put it back!
[US]L.F. Cooley Run For Home (1959) 199: Get a load of those teeth. They look too good to be home-grown!
[US]‘Lou Rand’ Gay Detective (2003) 86: Olsen nudged Francis. ‘Hey, get a load of that action.’.
[Aus]A. Buzo The Roy Murphy Show 113: Just get a load of that outfit, fellers.
[UK]A. Bleasdale Who’s Been Sleeping in my Bed 114: Gerraload of this, 38-28-38.
[Scot]I. Rankin Strip Jack 17: She saw the reporters and suddenly lifted the t-shirt high over her naked breasts. ‘Get a load of this then!’.
J.C. Arlington A Red Horse Rode Out 62: ‘Get a load of that,’ Nelson said pointing to an area adjacent our position from No-Mans Land.
[US]A. Steinberg Running the Books 77: He’d tap his partner, the international sign for, Hey get a load of this . . .
half-load (n.)

(US drugs) 15 packs of heroin, each weighing about 1g and thus equivalent to ½ ounce, a typical purchase made by a small pusher.

[US]J. Mills Panic in Needle Park (1971) 20: Fifteen $3 bags are wrapped together with a rubber band (the package is called a half-load).
[US]A. Hoffman Property Of (1978) 221: There were enough fixes within that half-load so that Starry’s hands shook.
[US](con. 1940s–60s) H. Huncke ‘Florence’ in Eve. Sun Turned Crimson (1998) 199: He arranged for us to meet a half-load connection (a half-load consisting of fifteen bags for twenty-five dollars).
[US]ONDCP Street Terms 11: Half load — 15 bags (decks) of heroin.
lighten one’s load (v.)

to urinate.

[Aus]S. Maloney Big Ask 169: The washrooms opened from a vestibule off the lobby [...] I lightened my load.
load off one’s behind (n.) [pun on colloq. phr. load on one’s mind]

a defecation.

[UK]Partridge DSUE (8th edn) 688: [...] since ca. 1925.
load off one’s mind (n.) [pun on colloq. phr. load on one’s mind]

1. a defecation.

[US]Baker et al. CUSS 152: Load, get a — off your mind Defecate.

2. (US gay) the removal of a penis from the anus.

[US]R.O. Scott Gay Sl. Dict. 🌐 a load off someone’s mind: [...] 2. to take a dick out of one’s ass.
shit one’s load (v.) [shit v. (1a); the image is of terror that leads to involuntary defecation]

to be absolutely terrified.

[Scot]I. Welsh Trainspotting 330: They fuckin telt us ye shat yir fuckin load.
shoot (off) one’s load (v.) [shoot v. (1a)/SE shoot]

1. to ejaculate; usu. of a man.

[US]Bawdy N.Y. State MS. n.p.: The boy bolted toward the door, / And shot his load all over the floor.
[US] ‘Mutt & Jeff II’ [comic strip] in B. Adelman Tijuana Bibles (1997) 14: She must have been eating chili sauce to shoot that kind of a load.
[US] ‘Wild Buckaroo’ in G. Logsdon Whorehouse Bells Were Ringing (1995) 107: I poured the prick into her, I shot off my load.
[US](con. 1920s) ‘Harry Grey’ Hoods (1953) 208: One wrong word, bastard, you’d wish your old man shot his load into a rubber and you were never born.
[US]B. Rodgers Queens’ Vernacular.
[UK]P. Robinson Gallows View (2002) 247: She could tell he was just an inexperienced kid because he shot his load almost as soon as he stuck it in.
[Scot]I. Welsh Filth 205: After a while I shoot my load and leave her wondering what’s been happening.
[UK]M. Manning Get Your Cock Out 79: He was in danger of shooting his load before Delilah had even entered the room.
T. Pluck ‘Hula Hula Boys’ in What Pluckery Is This? (28 Jan 2024) 🌐 [B]oys were inclined to do exactly jack shit for you after they’d shot their rancid loads.

2. in fig. use, to expend one’s best effort.

[US]Goldin et al. DAUL 192/1: Shoot one’s load or lump. To expend one’s courage and energy to the point of exhaustion.
[UK]W. Hall Long and the Short and the Tall Act I: You’ve done it this time, Bamforth! You’ve shot your load.
[Scot]I. Welsh Trainspotting 238: Content that the cunt’s shat his load, ah loosen up.
[US]‘Randy Everhard’ Tattoo of a Naked Lady 201: You got lucky [...] But you’ve shot your load.

3. in fig. use: to blame, to pass on a responsibility.

[UK]A. Wesker Chips with Everything II x: Cut it! stuff it! Shoot your load on someone else, take it out on someone else.
tie a load on (v.)

(US) to get drunk.

[Can]M. Richler Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz (1964) 38: The room forty-one gang doesn’t care how many times a week you go out to tie a load on.
[US]I. Freeman Out of the Burning (1961) 197: We got up the price of one jug. Then, lying low in the bulrushes, we proceeded to tie a load on.

SE in slang uses

In phrases

no load (n.) [they ‘carry no weight’]

(US) a lazy, unenthusiastic or pessimistic person.

[US]in Botkin Folk-Say 111: A no-load or a no-load guy is any [taxi] driver with pessimistic tendencies .
G.C. Wilson Supercarrier 220: A ‘no load’ [is] navalese for someone who does not carry his share of the work load on the ship [HDAS].
[US]R. Marcinko Rogue Warrior (1993) 380: A no-load, bean-counting pain-in-the-ass.
pull one’s load (v.) (also pull one’s freight)

(Can.) to make one’s best effort.

[UK]Partridge DSUE (1984) 932/1: late C.19–20.
[US] in T.I. Rubin Sweet Daddy 65: Look, I couldn’t care less. Pull my load or not.
[US]T.V. Olsen Hard Men (1974) 50: You pull your freight or out you go.