Adjacent Words

payload definitions

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WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: the front part of a guided missile or rocket or torpedo that carries the nuclear or explosive charge or the chemical or biological agents [syn: warhead, payload, load]
2: goods carried by a large vehicle [syn: cargo, lading, freight, load, loading, payload, shipment, consignment]

Merriam Webster's

noun Date: circa 1922 1. the load carried by a vehicle exclusive of what is necessary for its operation; especially the load carried by an aircraft or spacecraft consisting of things (as passengers or instruments) necessary to the purpose of the flight 2. the weight of a payload

U.S. Military Dictionary

(*) 1. The sum of the weight of passengers and cargo that an aircraft can carry. See also load. 2. The warhead, its container, and activating devices in a military missile. 3. The satellite or research vehicle of a space probe or research missile. 4. The load (expressed in tons of cargo or equipment, gallons of liquid, or number of passengers) which the vehicle is designed to transport under specified conditions of operation, in addition to its unladen weight.

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n. 1 the part of an aircraft's load from which revenue is derived. 2 a the explosive warhead carried by an aircraft or rocket. b the instruments etc. carried by a spaceship.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(payloads) 1. The payload of an aircraft or spacecraft is the amount or weight of things or people that it is carrying. (TECHNICAL) With these very large passenger payloads one question looms above all others–safety. = cargo N-VAR 2. The payload of a missile or similar weapon is the quantity of explosives it contains. (MILITARY) ...a hypervelocity gun capable of delivering substantial payloads to extreme ranges. N-VAR

Moby Thesaurus

atomic warhead, baggage, bird, blast, burden, cargo, carload, cartload, charge, consignment, freight, freightage, full load, goods, guided missile, haul, impedimenta, lading, load, luggage, missile, nuclear warhead, pack, rocket, shipload, shipment, thermonuclear warhead, torpedo, trailerload, trainload, truckload, vanload, war rocket, warhead