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Webster 1913 Edition

Charge

Charge

(chärj)
,
Verb.
T.
[
imp. & p. p.
Charged
(chärjd)
;
p. pr. & vb. n.
Charging
.]
[OF.
chargier
, F.
charger
, fr. LL.
carricare
, fr. L.
carrus
wagon. Cf.
Cargo
,
Caricature
,
Cark
, and see
Car
.]
1.
To lay on or impose, as a load, tax, or burden; to load; to fill.
A carte that
charged
was with hay.
Chaucer.
The
charging
of children’s memories with rules.
Locke.
2.
To lay on or impose, as a task, duty, or trust; to command, instruct, or exhort with authority; to enjoin; to urge earnestly;
as, to
charge
a jury; to
charge
the clergy of a diocese; to
charge
an agent
.
Moses . . .
charged
you to love the Lord your God.
Josh. xxii. 5.
Cromwell, I
charge
thee, fling away ambition.
Shakespeare
3.
To lay on, impose, or make subject to or liable for.
When land shall be
charged
by any lien.
Kent.
4.
To fix or demand as a price;
as, he
charges
two dollars a barrel for apples
.
5.
To place something to the account of as a debt; to debit,
as, to
charge
one with goods
. Also, to enter upon the debit side of an account;
as, to
charge
a sum to one
.
6.
To impute or ascribe; to lay to one's charge.
No more accuse thy pen, but
charge
the crime
On native sloth and negligence of time.
Dryden.
7.
To accuse; to make a charge or assertion against (a person or thing); to lay the responsibility (for something said or done) at the door of.
If he did that wrong you
charge
him with.
Tennyson.
8.
To place within or upon any firearm, piece of apparatus or machinery, the quantity it is intended and fitted to hold or bear; to load; to fill;
as, to
charge
a gun; to
charge
an electrical machine, etc.
Their battering cannon
charged
to the mouths.
Shakespeare
9.
To ornament with or cause to bear;
as, to
charge
an architectural member with a molding
.
10.
(Her.)
To assume as a bearing;
as, he
charges
three roses or
; to add to or represent on;
as, he
charges
his shield with three roses or
.
11.
To call to account; to challenge.
[Obs.]
To
charge
me to an answer.
Shakespeare
12.
To bear down upon; to rush upon; to attack.
Syn. – To intrust; command; exhort; instruct; accuse; impeach; arraign. See
Accuse
.

Charge

,
Verb.
I.
1.
To make an onset or rush;
as, to
charge
with fixed bayonets
.
Like your heroes of antiquity, he
charges
in iron.
Glanvill.
“
Charge
for the guns!” he said.
Tennyson.
2.
To demand a price;
as, to
charge
high for goods
.
3.
To debit on an account;
as, to
charge
for purchases
.
4.
To squat on its belly and be still; – a command given by a sportsman to a dog.

Charge

,
Noun.
[F.
charge
, fr.
charger
to load. See
Charge
,
Verb.
T.
, and cf.
Cargo
,
Caricature
.]
1.
A load or burder laid upon a person or thing.
2.
A person or thing commited or intrusted to the care, custody, or management of another; a trust.
☞ The people of a parish or church are called the charge of the clergyman who is set over them.
3.
Custody or care of any person, thing, or place; office; responsibility; oversight; obigation; duty.
'Tis a great
charge
to come under one body's hand.
Shakespeare
4.
Heed; care; anxiety; trouble.
[Obs.]
Chaucer.
5.
Harm.
[Obs.]
Chaucer.
6.
An order; a mandate or command; an injunction.
The king gave
cherge
concerning Absalom.
2. Sam. xviii. 5.
7.
An address (esp. an earnest or impressive address) containing instruction or exhortation;
as, the
charge
of a judge to a jury; the
charge
of a bishop to his clergy
.
8.
An accusation of a wrong of offense; allegation; indictment; specification of something alleged.
The
charge
of confounding very different classes of phenomena.
Whewell.
9.
Whatever constitutes a burden on property, as rents, taxes, lines, etc.; costs; expense incurred; – usually in the plural.
10.
The price demanded for a thing or service.
11.
An entry or a account of that which is due from one party to another; that which is debited in a business transaction;
as, a
charge
in an account book
.
12.
That quantity, as of ammunition, electricity, ore, fuel, etc., which any apparatus, as a gun, battery, furnace, machine, etc., is intended to receive and fitted to hold, or which is actually in it at one time
13.
The act of rushing upon, or towards, an enemy; a sudden onset or attack, as of troops, esp. cavalry; hence, the signal for attack;
as, to sound the
charge
.
Never, in any other war afore, gave the Romans a hotter
charge
upon the enemies.
Holland.
The
charge
of the light brigade.
Tennyson.
14.
A position (of a weapon) fitted for attack;
as, to bring a weapon to the
charge
.
15.
(Far.)
A sort of plaster or ointment.
16.
(Her.)
A bearing. See
Bearing
,
Noun.
, 8.
17.
[Cf.
Charre
.]
Thirty-six pigs of lead, each pig weighing about seventy pounds; – called also
charre
.
18.
Weight; import; value.
Many suchlike “as's” of great
charge
.
Shakespeare
Syn. – Care; custody; trust; management; office; expense; cost; price; assault; attack; onset; injunction; command; order; mandate; instruction; accusation; indictment.

Webster 1828 Edition

Charge

CHARGE

, v.t.
1.
To rush on; to fall on; to attack, especially with fixed bayonets; as, an army charges the enemy.
2.
To load, as a musket or cannon; to thrust in powder, or powder and ball or shot.
3.
To lead or burden; to throw on or impose that which oppresses; as, to charge the stomach with indigestible food; or to lay on, or to fill, without oppressing; as, to charge the memory with rules and precepts; to charge the mid with facts.
4.
To set or lay on; to impose, as a tax; as, the land is charged with a quit rent; a rent is charge on the land.
5.
To lay on or impose, as a task.
The gospel chargeth us with piety towards God.
6.
To put or lay on; as, to charge a building with ornaments, often implying superfluity.
7.
To lay on, as a duty; followed by with.
The commander charged the officer with the execution of the project. See Gen. 40:4
8.
To entrust to; as, an officer is charged with dispatches.
9.
To set to, as a dept; to place on the debit side of an account; as, to charge a man with the price of goods sold to him.
10.
To load or lay on in words, something wrong, reproachful or criminal; to impute to; as, to charge a man with theft.
11.
To lay on in words; to impute to; followed by on before the person; as, to charge a crime on the offender; to charge evil consequences on the doctrines of the stoics.
12.
To lay on, give or communicate, as an order, command or earnest request; to enjoin; to exhort.
In all this, Job sinned not, nor charged God foolishly. Job 1.
13.
To lay on, give or communicate, as an order, command or earnest request; to enjoin; to exhort.Charge them that are rich in this world, that they be not high-minded. 1 Tim. 4.
In this sense, when the command is given in the name of God, or with an oath, the phrase amounts to an adjuration.
To adjure; to bind by an oath. 1 Sam. 14:28.
14.
To give directions to; to instruct authoritatively; as, the judge charged the grand jury to inquire respecting breaches of the peace.
15.
To communicate electrical matter to, as to a coated vial, or an electrical battery.

CHARGE

,
Verb.
I.
To make an onset. Thus Glanville says, like your heroes of antiquity, he charges in iron; and we say, to charge with fixed bayonets. But in this application, the object is understood; to charge the enemy.

CHARGE

,
Noun.
1.
That which is laid on or in; in a general sense, any load or burden. It is the same word radically as cargo.
2.
The quantity of powder, or of powder and ball or shot, used to load a musket, cannon or other like instrument.
3.
An onset; a rushing on an enemy; attack; especially by moving troops with fixed bayonets. But it is used for an onset of cavalry as well as of infantry.
4.
An order, injunction, mandate, command.
Moses gave Joshua a charge. Numbers 27.
The king gave charge concerning Absalom. 2 Sam. 18.
5.
That which is enjoined, committed, entrusted or delivered to another, implying care, custody, oversight, or duty to be performed by the person entrusted.
I gave Hanani charge over Jerusalem. Neh. 7.
Hence the word includes any trust or commission; an office, duty, employment. It is followed by of or over; more generally by of. Hence,
6.
The person or thing committed to anothers custody, care or management; a trust. Thus the people of a parish are called the ministers charge.
The starry guardian drove his charge away to some fresh pasture.
7.
Instructions given by a judge to a jury, or by a bishop to his clergy. The word may be used as synonymous with command, direction, exhortation or injunction, but always implies solemnity.
8.
Imputation in a bad sense; accusation.
Lay not this sin to their charge. Acts 7.
9.
That which constitutes debt, in commercial transactions; an entry of money or the price of goods, on the debit side of an account.
10.
Cost; expense; as, the charges of the war are to be borne by the nation.
11.
Imposition on land or estate; rent, tax, or whatever constitutes a burden or duty.
12.
In military affairs, a signal to attack; as, to sound the charge.
13.
The posture of a weapon fitted for an attack or combat.
Their armed slaves in charge.
14.
Among farriers, a preparation of the consistence of a thick decoction, or between an ointment and a plaster, used as a remedy for sprains and inflammations.
15.
In heraldry, that which is borne upon the color; or the figures represented on the escutcheon, by which the bearers are distinguished from one another.
16.
In electrical experiments, a quantity of electrical fluid, communicated to a coated jar, vial or pane of glass.
A charge of lead, is thirty-six pigs, each containing six stone, wanting two pounds.

Definition 2024

Charge

Charge

See also: charge, chargé, and Chargé

German

Noun

Charge f ‎(genitive Charge, plural Chargen)

  1. load
  2. batch
  3. (military, obsolete) rank

Declension

Synonyms

Related terms

charge

charge

See also: Charge, chargé, and Chargé

English

Noun

charge ‎(plural charges)

  1. The scope of someone's responsibility.
    The child was in the nanny's charge.
    • 1848 April 24, John K. Kane, opinion, United States v. Hutchison, as reported in The Pennsylvania law Journal, June 1848 edition, as reprinted in, 1848,The Pennsylvania Law Journal volume 7, page 366 :
      He had the key of a closet in which the moneys of this fund were kept, but the outer key of the vault, of which the closet formed part, was in the charge of another person.
  2. Someone or something entrusted to one's care, such as a child to a babysitter or a student to a teacher.
    The child was a charge of the nanny.
  3. A load or burden; cargo.
    The ship had a charge of colonists and their belongings.
  4. The amount of money levied for a service.
    There will be a charge of five dollars.
  5. An instruction.
    I gave him the charge to get the deal closed by the end of the month.
  6. (military) A ground attack against a prepared enemy.
    Pickett did not die leading his famous charge.
  7. An accusation.
    • 2005, Plato, Sophist. Translation by Lesley Brown. 261a.
      we'll nail the sophist to it, if we can get him on that charge;
    That's a slanderous charge of abuse of trust.
  8. An electric charge.
  9. (basketball) An offensive foul in which the player with the ball moves into a stationary defender.
  10. A measured amount of powder and/or shot in a firearm cartridge.
  11. (heraldry) An image displayed on an escutcheon.
  12. A forceful forward movement.
    • 2011 March 2, Chris Whyatt, “Arsenal 5 - 0 Leyton Orient”, in BBC:
      Abou Diaby should have added Arsenal's fourth in the 50th minute after he danced round a host of defenders on a charge towards goal
  13. A position (of a weapon) fitted for attack.
    to bring a weapon to the charge
  14. (farriery) A sort of plaster or ointment.
  15. (obsolete) Weight; import; value.
    • Shakespeare
      many suchlike as's of great charge
  16. A measure of thirty-six pigs of lead, each pig weighing about seventy pounds. Also charre.
  17. (ecclesiastical) an address given at a church service concluding a visitation.

Synonyms

(accusation): count

Derived terms

Translations

Verb

charge ‎(third-person singular simple present charges, present participle charging, simple past and past participle charged)

  1. (transitive) To place a burden upon; to assign a duty or responsibility to.
    • John Locke
      the charging of children's memories with rules
    • Bible, Joshua xxii. 5
      Moses […] charged you to love the Lord your God.
    • Shakespeare
      Cromwell, I charge thee, fling away ambition.
    1. (law) To formally accuse of a crime.
      I'm charging you with assault and battery.
    2. (transitive, intransitive) To require payment (for goods, services, etc.) of.
      to charge high for goods
      • 2013 July 19, Peter Wilby, “Finland spreads word on schools”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 189, number 6, page 30:
        Imagine a country where children do nothing but play until they start compulsory schooling at age seven. Then, without exception, they attend comprehensives until the age of 16. Charging school fees is illegal, and so is sorting pupils into ability groups by streaming or setting.
      Will I get charged for this service?
    3. (transitive) To assign (a debit) to an account.
      Let's charge this to marketing.
    4. (transitive) To pay on account, as by using a credit card.
      Can I charge my Amazon purchase to Paypal?
      Can I charge this purchase?
    5. To impute or ascribe.
      • Dryden
        No more accuse thy pen, but charge the crime / On native sloth, and negligence of time.
    6. To call to account; to challenge.
      • Shakespeare
        to charge me to an answer
    7. To ornament with or cause to bear.
      to charge an architectural member with a moulding
    8. (heraldry) To assume as a bearing.
      He charges three roses.
    9. (heraldry) To add to or represent on.
      He charges his shield with three roses or.
  2. (transitive) To load equipment with material required for its use, as a firearm with powder, a fire hose with water, a chemical reactor with raw materials.
    Charge your weapons; we're moving up.
    • Shakespeare
      their battering cannon charged to the mouths
    1. (transitive) To cause to take on an electric charge.
      Rubbing amber with wool will charge it quickly.
    2. (transitive) To add energy to (a battery).
      He charged the battery overnight.
    3. (transitive) To add energy to a battery within.
      Don't forget to charge the drill.
      I charge my phone every night.
    4. (intransitive, of a battery) To gain energy.
      The battery is still charging: I can't use it yet.
    5. (intransitive, of a device containing a battery) To have a battery within gain energy.
      His cell phone charges very quickly, whereas mine takes forever.
  3. (intransitive) To move forward quickly and forcefully, particularly in combat and/or on horseback.
    1. (military, transitive and intransitive) To attack by moving forward quickly in a group.
      The impetuous corps charged the enemy lines.
    2. (basketball) To commit a charging foul.
    3. (cricket, of a batsman) To take a few steps down the pitch towards the bowler as he delivers the ball, either to disrupt the length of the delivery, or to get into a better position to hit the ball.
  4. (transitive) To squat on the belly and be still; a command given by a hunter to a dog.

Derived terms

Related terms

Translations

Statistics

Most common English words before 1923: office · government · particular · #602: charge · church · paper · object

French

Etymology

From charger.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ʃaʁʒ/

Noun

charge f ‎(plural charges)

  1. load, burden
  2. cargo, freight
  3. responsibility, charge
  4. (law) charge
  5. (military) charge
  6. (in the plural) costs, expenses

Descendants

Verb

charge

  1. first-person singular present indicative of charger
  2. third-person singular present indicative of charger
  3. first-person singular present subjunctive of charger
  4. first-person singular present subjunctive of charger
  5. second-person singular imperative of charger

Related terms

Anagrams

Portuguese

Etymology

Borrowing from French charge.

Noun

charge f (plural charges)

  1. cartoon (satire of public figures)

Synonyms

Etymology

From French charge.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈʃaʁʒə/ (standard)
  • IPA(key): /ˈʃaːʒə/ (common; chiefly northern and central Germany)
  • IPA(key): /ˈʃaʁʃə/ (some southern German, Austrian, and Swiss speakers)

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