charge
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Pronunciation: ipa: /t͡ʃɑːd͡ʒ/
ipa: /t͡ʃɑɹd͡ʒ/
rhymes: -ɑː(ɹ)dʒ
Forms: form: charges
form: charging
form: charged
form: charged
Etymology: From Middle English chargen, from Old French chargier, from Late Latin carricō (“to load”), from Latin carrus (“a car, wagon”); see car. Doublet of cargo.
Senses: examples: text: Moses […] charged you to love the Lord your God.
ref: 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Joshua 22:5:
text: Cromwell, I charge thee, fling away ambition.
ref: 1613 (date written), William Shakespeare, [John Fletcher], “The Famous History of the Life of King Henry the Eight”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene ii]:
glosses: To assign a duty or responsibility to; to order.
examples: text: Let's charge this to marketing.
glosses: To assign (a debit) to an account.
examples: text: to charge high for goods
text: I won't charge you for the wheat.
text: 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.
ref: 2013 July 19, Peter Wilby, “Finland spreads word on schools”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 189, number 6, page 30:
glosses: To require payment (of) (a price or fee, for goods, services, etc.).
examples: text: Can I charge my purchase to my credit card?
text: Can I charge this purchase?
glosses: To pay on account, as by using a credit card.
examples: text: to charge coal at $5 per unit
glosses: To sell (something) at a given price.
examples: text: I'm charging you with assault and battery.
topics: government
law-enforcement
qualifier: criminal law
glosses: To formally accuse (a person) of a crime.
topics: law
property
glosses: To mortgage (a property).
examples: text: No more accuse thy pen, but charge the crime / On native sloth, and negligence of time.
ref: 1693, Decimus Junius Juvenalis, John Dryden, transl., “[The Satires of Decimus Junius Juvenalis.] The Third Satyr”, in The Satires of Decimus Junius Juvenalis. Translated into English Verse. […] Together with the Satires of Aulus Persius Flaccus. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson […], →OCLC:
text: He lacked the art of wounding with the sword, and in any case his critics charged that he shrank from steel; but his invective was worthy of Demosthenes and his words drew blood.
ref: 1966, Stringfellow Barr, The Mask of Jove:
glosses: To impute or ascribe.
examples: text: to charge me to an answer
ref: c. 1596 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Life and Death of King Iohn”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene i]:
glosses: To call to account; to challenge.
examples: text: the charging of children's memories[…] with rules
ref: 1693, [John Locke], “§64”, in Some Thoughts Concerning Education, London: […] A[wnsham] and J[ohn] Churchill, […], →OCLC:
text: [H]er grandfather […] charged her as she valued her life never to mention that again […]
ref: 1800, James Hogg, The Mysterious Bride:
text: [A] huge torrent of boiling black mud, charged with blocks of rock and moving with enormous rapidity, rolled like an avalanche down the gorge.
ref: 1911, The Encyclopedia Britannica, entry on Moya
glosses: To place a burden, load or responsibility on or in.
examples: text: to charge an architectural member with a moulding
glosses: To place a burden, load or responsibility on or in.
To ornament with or cause to bear.
examples: text: He charges three roses.
topics: government
heraldry
hobbies
lifestyle
monarchy
nobility
politics
glosses: To place a burden, load or responsibility on or in.
To assume as a bearing.
examples: text: He charges his shield with three roses or.
text: Within a blue garter inscribed "Great Northern Railway Ireland" is a shield, on which are marshalled the arms of the principal towns in the company's area. The shield is divided quarterly with the arms of Dublin in the first quarter, Londonderry in the second quarter, Enniskillen in the third, and Belfast in the fourth; and overall is a gold inescutcheon (a small shield placed in the centre of the large shield) charged with the red left hand of Ulster.
ref: 1956 July, Col. H. C. B. Rogers, “Railway Heraldry”, in Railway Magazine, pages 476-477:
topics: government
heraldry
hobbies
lifestyle
monarchy
nobility
politics
glosses: To place a burden, load or responsibility on or in.
To add to or represent on.
examples: text: Charge your weapons; we're moving up.
text: their battering cannon charged to the mouths
ref: c. 1596 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Life and Death of King Iohn”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene i]:
glosses: 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.
examples: text: Rubbing amber with wool will charge it quickly.
glosses: 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.
To cause to take on an electric charge.
examples: text: He charged the battery overnight.
text: Don't forget to charge the drill.
text: I charge my phone every night.
glosses: 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.
To replenish energy to (a battery, or a device containing a battery) by use of an electrical device plugged into a power outlet.
examples: text: The battery is still charging: I can't use it yet.
text: His cell phone charges very quickly, whereas mine takes forever.
glosses: 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.
To replenish energy.
raw_tags: of a battery or a device containing a battery
examples: text: Faced with an enemy whose largest gun turrets weigh more than the entire ship, Johnston decides that running is boring, and instead pulls a full 180-degree turn and charges straight back at the attacking forces.
ref: 2019 February 27, Drachinifel, 16:22 from the start, in The Battle of Samar - Odds? What are those?, archived from the original on 03 Nov 2022:
glosses: To move forward quickly and forcefully, particularly in combat and/or on horseback.
examples: text: The impetuous corps charged the enemy lines.
text: My Lord, we haue diſcouered the enemie
Readie to Charge you with a mightie army.
ref: c. 1587–1588 (date written), [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […], 2nd edition, part 1, London: […] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published 1592, →OCLC; reprinted as Tamburlaine the Great (A Scolar Press Facsimile), Menston, Yorkshire; London: Scolar Press, 1973, →ISBN, Act II, scene iii:
topics: government
military
politics
war
glosses: To move forward quickly and forcefully, particularly in combat and/or on horseback.
To attack by moving forward quickly in a group.
topics: ball-games
basketball
games
hobbies
lifestyle
sports
glosses: To move forward quickly and forcefully, particularly in combat and/or on horseback.
To commit a charging foul.
topics: ball-games
cricket
games
hobbies
lifestyle
sports
glosses: To move forward quickly and forcefully, particularly in combat and/or on horseback.
To take a few steps down the pitch towards the bowler as they deliver the ball, either to disrupt the length of the delivery, or to get into a better position to hit the ball.
raw_tags: of a batsman
glosses: To lie on the belly and be still. (A command given by a hunter to a dog)
raw_tags: of a hunting dog
Derived terms: sense: Prefixed forms
word: countercharge
sense: Prefixed forms
word: discharge
sense: Prefixed forms
word: double-charge
sense: Prefixed forms
word: forecharge
sense: Prefixed forms
word: mischarge
sense: Prefixed forms
word: outcharge
sense: Prefixed forms
word: overcharge
sense: Prefixed forms
word: recharge
sense: Prefixed forms
word: reverse-charge
sense: Prefixed forms
word: supercharge
sense: Prefixed forms
word: trickle charge
sense: Prefixed forms
word: turbocharge
sense: Prefixed forms
word: twincharge
sense: Prefixed forms
word: uncharge
sense: Prefixed forms
word: undercharge
sense: Prefixed forms
word: upcharge
sense: Suffixed forms
word: chargeable
sense: Suffixed forms
word: chargee
sense: Suffixed forms
word: charger
sense: Other derivations
word: CHAdeMO
sense: Other derivations
word: charge down
sense: Other derivations
word: chargehand
sense: Other derivations
word: charge like a wounded bull
sense: Other derivations
word: charge off
sense: Other derivations
word: charge the mound
sense: Other derivations
word: charge up
sense: Other derivations
word: chip and charge
Related terms: carack
cargo
caricature
cark
discharge
surcharge