English

Verb

unload ‎(third-person singular simple present unloads, present participle unloading, simple past and past participle unloaded)

1. (transitive) To remove the load or cargo from (a vehicle, etc.).

   to unload a ship; to unload a camel

2. (transitive) To remove (the load or cargo) from a vehicle, etc.

   to unload bales of hay from a truck

3. (intransitive) To deposit one's load or cargo.
   • 1998, Robert A Corbitt, Standard handbook of environmental engineering

     Some stations have collection vehicles unload on the floor, using a front loader to push material into the hopper.

4. (transitive, intransitive, figuratively) To give vent to or express.
   • 1984, John Arlott, David Rayvern Allen, Arlott on cricket: his writings on the game

     ...who bowled with such fury that he needed beer to give him something to sweat out, and who unloaded his emotions in words as hard as his bowling.

5. (transitive, computing) To remove (something previously loaded) from memory.
   • 1993, Tony Martin, Lisa C Towell, The NewWave agent handbook

     When you unload a DLL, the memory and other system resources it is using will become available for use by other applications.

6. (transitive) To discharge, pour, or expel.
7. (transitive) To get rid of or dispose of.

   to unload unprofitable stocks

8. (transitive) To deliver forcefully.
9. (transitive, slang) To ejaculate, particularly within an orifice. (Can we add an example for this sense?)
10. (transitive) To draw the charge from.

    to unload a gun

Translations

Derived terms

• unloader

References

• unload in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913