overburden

from WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006)
overburden
    n 1: the surface soil that must be moved away to get at coal
         seams and mineral deposits
    2: an excessive burden [syn: {overload}, {overburden}]
    v 1: burden with too much work or responsibility
    2: load with excessive weight
from The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
Overburden \O`ver*bur"den\, v. t.
   To load with too great weight or too much care, etc. --Sir P.
   Sidney.
   [1913 Webster]
from The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
Overburden \O"ver*bur`den\, n.
   The waste which overlies good stone in a quarry. --Raymond.
   [1913 Webster]
from Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0
52 Moby Thesaurus words for "overburden":
      bear hard upon, burden, burthen, charge, choke, congest, cram,
      crowd, cumber, drench, encumber, freight, glut, gluttonize,
      go hard with, go ill with, gorge, hamper, handicap, jam, jam-pack,
      lade, lie on, load, oppress, overcharge, overfeed, overfill,
      overlade, overload, overstuff, overtax, overweigh, overweight,
      pack, press hard upon, rest hard upon, saddle, satiate, saturate,
      soak, stuff, supercharge, supersaturate, surcharge, surfeit, tax,
      try one, weigh down, weigh heavy on, weigh on, weigh upon
antiflux / dictionary / overburden
grant@antiflux.org