charge Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun an impetuous rush toward someone or something
    • the wrestler's charge carried him past his adversary
    • the battle began with a cavalry charge
  2. noun (criminal law) a pleading describing some wrong or offense
    complaint.
    • he was arrested on a charge of larceny
  3. noun the price charged for some article or service
    • the admission charge
  4. noun the quantity of unbalanced electricity in a body (either positive or negative) and construed as an excess or deficiency of electrons
    electric charge.
    • the battery needed a fresh charge
  5. noun attention and management implying responsibility for safety
    guardianship; tutelage; care.
    • he is in the care of a bodyguard
  6. noun a special assignment that is given to a person or group
    commission; mission.
    • a confidential mission to London
    • his charge was deliver a message
  7. noun a person committed to your care
    • the teacher led her charges across the street
  8. noun financial liabilities (such as a tax)
    • the charges against the estate
  9. noun (psychoanalysis) the libidinal energy invested in some idea or person or object
    cathexis.
    • Freud thought of cathexis as a psychic analog of an electrical charge
  10. noun the swift release of a store of affective force
    rush; thrill; boot; bang; flush; kick.
    • they got a great bang out of it
    • what a boot!
    • he got a quick rush from injecting heroin
    • he does it for kicks
  11. noun request for payment of a debt
    billing.
    • they submitted their charges at the end of each month
  12. noun a formal statement of a command or injunction to do something
    commission; direction.
    • the judge's charge to the jury
  13. noun an assertion that someone is guilty of a fault or offence
    accusation.
    • the newspaper published charges that Jones was guilty of drunken driving
  14. noun heraldry consisting of a design or image depicted on a shield
    bearing; heraldic bearing; armorial bearing.
  15. noun a quantity of explosive to be set off at one time
    explosive charge; burster; bursting charge.
    • this cartridge has a powder charge of 50 grains
  16. verb to make a rush at or sudden attack upon, as in battle
    bear down.
    • he saw Jess charging at him with a pitchfork
  17. verb blame for, make a claim of wrongdoing or misbehavior against
    accuse.
    • he charged the director with indifference
  18. verb demand payment
    bill.
    • Will I get charged for this service?
    • We were billed for 4 nights in the hotel, although we stayed only 3 nights
  19. verb move quickly and violently
    tear; shoot; shoot down; buck.
    • The car tore down the street
    • He came charging into my office
  20. verb assign a duty, responsibility or obligation to
    appoint.
    • He was appointed deputy manager
    • She was charged with supervising the creation of a concordance
  21. verb file a formal charge against
    lodge; file.
    • The suspect was charged with murdering his wife
  22. verb make an accusatory claim
    • The defense attorney charged that the jurors were biased
  23. verb fill or load to capacity
    • charge the wagon with hay
  24. verb enter a certain amount as a charge
    • he charged me $15
  25. verb cause to be admitted; of persons to an institution
    commit; send; institutionalize; institutionalise.
    • After the second episode, she had to be committed
    • he was committed to prison
  26. verb give over to another for care or safekeeping
    consign.
    • consign your baggage
  27. verb pay with a credit card; pay with plastic money; postpone payment by recording a purchase as a debt
    • Will you pay cash or charge the purchase?
  28. verb lie down on command, of hunting dogs
  29. verb cause to be agitated, excited, or roused
    commove; turn on; excite; charge up; agitate; rouse.
    • The speaker charged up the crowd with his inflammatory remarks
  30. verb place a heraldic bearing on
    • charge all weapons, shields, and banners
  31. verb provide (a device) with something necessary
    load.
    • He loaded his gun carefully
    • load the camera
  32. verb direct into a position for use
    point; level.
    • point a gun
    • He charged his weapon at me
  33. verb impose a task upon, assign a responsibility to
    burden; saddle.
    • He charged her with cleaning up all the files over the weekend
  34. verb instruct (a jury) about the law, its application, and the weighing of evidence
  35. verb instruct or command with authority
    • The teacher charged the children to memorize the poem
  36. verb attribute responsibility to
    blame.
    • We blamed the accident on her
    • The tragedy was charged to her inexperience
  37. verb set or ask for a certain price
    • How much do you charge for lunch?
    • This fellow charges $100 for a massage
  38. verb cause formation of a net electrical charge in or on
    • charge a conductor
  39. verb energize a battery by passing a current through it in the direction opposite to discharge
    • I need to charge my car battery
  40. verb saturate
    • The room was charged with tension and anxiety

WordNet

Charge transitive verb
Etymology
OF. chargier, F. charger, fr. LL. carricare, fr. L. carrus wagon. Cf. Cargo, Caricature, Cark, and see Car.
Wordforms
imperfect & past participle Charged ; present participle & verbal noun Charging
Definitions
  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, fing away ambition. Shak.
  3. To lay on, impose, or make subject to or liable for.
    When land shal be charged by any lien. Kent.
  4. To fix or demand as a prince; as, he charges two dollars a barrelk 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 loth 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 the did that wrong you charge 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. Shak.
  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. Shak.
  12. To bear down upon; to rush upon; to attack.
    Charged our main battle's front. Shak.
    Syn. -- To intrust; command; exhort; instruct; accuse; impeach; arraign. See Accuse.
Charge intransitive verb
Definitions
  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
Etymology
F. charge, fr. charger to load. See Charge, v. t., and cf. Cargo, Caricature.
Definitions
  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. Shak.
  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 soft of plaster or ointment.
  16. (Her.) A bearing. See Bearing, n., 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. Shak.
    Syn. -- Care; custody; trust; management; office; expense; cost; price; assault; attack; onset; injunction; command; order; mandate; instruction; accusation; indictment.

Webster 1913