get a load of something—(sl.)
1. listen to smth. carefully:
- Did you get a load of what she said?
2. take a look at smth.; pay attention to smth.:
- Get a load of that car. It’s got real wire wheels.
get a load on—(sl.) be drunk (also: get one’s load on):
- I got a load on and had to have Jonas come down in a taxi and take me home.
Note: The expression is not antonymous in meaning to the phrase take a load off someone’s mind—relieve a person of anxiety:
- You have taken a load off my mind. I was afraid that we couldn’t recoup the money we had loaned.