discharge
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Pronunciation: ipa: /dɪsˈtʃɑːdʒ/
ipa: /ˈdɪstʃɑːdʒ/
enpr: dĭschärj'
ipa: /dɪsˈtʃɑɹdʒ/
enpr: dĭs'chärj
ipa: /ˈdɪstʃɑɹdʒ/
rhymes: -ɑː(ɹ)dʒ
rhymes: -ɪstʃɑː(ɹ)dʒ
Forms: form: discharges
form: discharging
form: discharged
form: discharged
Etymology: From Middle English dischargen, from Old French deschargier (“to unload”), from Late Latin discarricāre (“unload”). By surface analysis, dis- + charge.
Senses: examples: text: O most dear mistress, / The sun will set before I shall discharge / What I must strive to do.
ref: 1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tempest”, 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 accomplish or complete, as an obligation.
examples: text: But in deede, the ſecret cauſe that brought Ageſilaus to conſent vnto this practiſe, was the greatnes of his dette which he ought, of the which he hoped to be diſcharged by chaunging of the ſtate and common wealth.
ref: 1579, Plutarke of Chæronea [i.e., Plutarch], “Agis and Cleomenes”, in Thomas North, transl., The Lives of the Noble Grecians and Romaines, […], London: […] Richard Field, →OCLC, page 851:
text: For if One Man's Faults could Discharge Another Man of his Duty,there would be no longer any Place left for the Common Offices of Society.
ref: 1692, Roger L’Estrange, “ (please specify the fable number.) (please specify the name of the fable.)”, in Fables, of Æsop and Other Eminent Mythologists: […], London: […] R[ichard] Sare, […], →OCLC:
text: How happy is his low degree, / How rich in humble poverty, is he, / Who leads a quiet country life; / Diſcharg'd of buſineſs, void of ſtrife, / And from the griping ſcrivener free?
ref: a. 1701 (date written), John Dryden, “The Second Epode of Horace”, in The Miscellaneous Works of John Dryden, […], volume II, London: […] J[acob] and R[ichard] Tonson, […], published 1760, →OCLC, page 477:
glosses: To free of a debt, claim, obligation, responsibility, accusation, etc.; to absolve; to acquit; to forgive; to clear.
examples: text: If he had / The present money to discharge the Jew.
ref: c. 1596–1598 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merchant of Venice”, 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 send away (a creditor) satisfied by payment; to pay one's debt or obligation to.
examples: text: The order for Daly's attendance was discharged.
ref: 1849–1861, Thomas Babington Macaulay, chapter XII, in The History of England from the Accession of James the Second, volume (please specify |volume=I to V), London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, →OCLC:
glosses: To set aside; to annul; to dismiss.
examples: text: Feeling in other cases discharges itself in indirect muscular actions.
ref: January 1, 1878, Herbert Spencer, Ceremonial Government, published in The Fortnightly Review No. 132
glosses: To expel or let go.
examples: text: They do discharge their shot of courtesy.
ref: c. 1603–1604 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Othello, the Moore of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene i]:
text: Mrs Partridge, upon this, immediately fell into a fury, and discharged the trencher on which she was eating, at the head of poor Jenny […]
ref: 1749, Henry Fielding, The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, volume (please specify |volume=I to VI), London: A[ndrew] Millar, […], →OCLC:
glosses: To let fly, as a missile; to shoot.
examples: text: GWR plans to use it on the Greenford branch in west London, making use of a fast charger at West Ealing that will charge the batteries in just three and a half minutes. This fast charger is essentially a battery installed at the lineside which is trickle-charged from the electricity grid. It can then discharge quickly into the train's batteries through charging rails and then start recharging itself while the train is running in service.
ref: 2024 March 6, “Network News: GWR '230' sets UK battery record”, in RAIL, number 1004, page 13:
topics: business
electrical-engineering
electricity
electromagnetism
energy
engineering
natural-sciences
physical-sciences
physics
glosses: To release (an accumulated charge).
examples: text: Discharge the common sort / With pay and thanks.
ref: c. 1591–1592 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Third Part of Henry the Sixt, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene v]:
text: Grindal […] was discharged the government of his see.
ref: 1641 May, John Milton, Of Reformation Touching Church-Discipline in England: And the Cavses that hitherto have Hindred it. […], [London]: […] Thomas Vnderhill, →OCLC; republished in (Please provide a date or year):
synonyms: word: fire
word: let go
word: terminate
word: axe
word: can
word: decruit
word: dehire
word: discard
word: remove
word: discharge
word: dismiss
word: downsize
word: fire
word: give the axe
word: give someone the boot
word: give someone their cards
word: give the chop
word: give the elbow
word: give someone the heave-ho
word: give someone the old heave-ho
word: lay off
word: let go
word: let someone go
word: make redundant
word: pink slip
word: promote to customer
word: retrench
word: sack
word: serve notice
word: shit-can
word: term
word: terminate
word: throw out
word: unhire
glosses: To relieve of an office or employment; to send away from service; to dismiss.
topics: medicine
sciences
synonyms: word: fire
word: let go
word: terminate
word: axe
word: can
word: decruit
word: dehire
word: discard
word: remove
word: discharge
word: dismiss
word: downsize
word: fire
word: give the axe
word: give someone the boot
word: give someone their cards
word: give the chop
word: give the elbow
word: give someone the heave-ho
word: give someone the old heave-ho
word: lay off
word: let go
word: let someone go
word: make redundant
word: pink slip
word: promote to customer
word: retrench
word: sack
word: serve notice
word: shit-can
word: term
word: terminate
word: throw out
word: unhire
glosses: To relieve of an office or employment; to send away from service; to dismiss.
To release (an inpatient) from hospital.
topics: government
military
politics
war
synonyms: word: fire
word: let go
word: terminate
word: axe
word: can
word: decruit
word: dehire
word: discard
word: remove
word: discharge
word: dismiss
word: downsize
word: fire
word: give the axe
word: give someone the boot
word: give someone their cards
word: give the chop
word: give the elbow
word: give someone the heave-ho
word: give someone the old heave-ho
word: lay off
word: let go
word: let someone go
word: make redundant
word: pink slip
word: promote to customer
word: retrench
word: sack
word: serve notice
word: shit-can
word: term
word: terminate
word: throw out
word: unhire
glosses: To relieve of an office or employment; to send away from service; to dismiss.
To release (a member of the armed forces) from service.
examples: text: to discharge a prisoner
glosses: To release legally from confinement; to set at liberty.
examples: text: discharge his pieces
ref: 1603, Richard Knolles, The Generall Historie of the Turkes, […], London: […] Adam Islip, →OCLC:
text: I ran forward, discharging my pistol into the creature's body in an effort to force it to relinquish its prey; but I might as profitably have shot at the sun.
ref: 1918 September–November, Edgar Rice Burroughs, “The Land That Time Forgot”, in The Blue Book Magazine, Chicago, Ill.: Story-press Corp., →OCLC; republished as chapter IV, in Hugo Gernsback, editor, Amazing Stories, (please specify |part=I to III), New York, N.Y.: Experimenter Publishing, 1927, →OCLC:
glosses: To operate (any weapon that fires a projectile, such as a shotgun or sling).
topics: human-sciences
logic
mathematics
philosophy
sciences
glosses: To release (an auxiliary assumption) from the list of assumptions used in arguments, and return to the main argument.
glosses: To unload a ship or another means of transport.
examples: text: to discharge a cargo
glosses: To put forth, or remove, as a charge or burden; to take out, as that with which anything is loaded or filled.
examples: text: A pipe discharges water.
glosses: To give forth; to emit or send out.
examples: text: He discharged a horrible oath.
glosses: To let fly; to give expression to; to utter.
examples: text: to discharge the colour from a dyed fabric in order to form light figures on a dark background
topics: business
manufacturing
textiles
glosses: To bleach out or to remove or efface, as by a chemical process.
examples: text: That Richard Stevenson, Robert Calcott, and Richard Tyldesley, be discharged from farther restraint, giving good security to appear at this Board whensoever summoned, and not depart this city until full satisfaction be given
ref: 1822, [Walter Scott], Peveril of the Peak. […], volume (please specify |volume=I to IV), Edinburgh: […] Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Hurst, Robinson, and Co., →OCLC:
glosses: To prohibit; to forbid.
Derived terms: dischargeable
dischargee
dischargement
discharger
nondischarging
redischarge
undischarged