charge

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.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /t͡ʃɑːd͡ʒ/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /t͡ʃɑɹd͡ʒ/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɑː(ɹ)dʒ

Noun

charge (countable and uncountable, plural charges)

1. The amount of money levied for a service.

   There will be a charge of five dollars.

2. (military) A ground attack against a prepared enemy.

   Pickett's Charge; the Charge of the Light Brigade

3. 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

5. An accusation.

   Synonym: count

   1. An official description (by the police or a court) of a crime that somebody may be guilty of.

      two charges of manslaughter

      • 2006, Noire [pseudonym], Thug-A-Licious: An Urban Erotic Tale, New York, N.Y.: One World, Ballantine Books, →ISBN, page 108:

        "Ain't gone be no Rikers Island for you next time," I warned him. "You get tapped on another gun charge and you looking at some upstate time."

   2. An accusation by a person or organization.

      That's a slanderous charge of abuse of trust.

      • 2005, Plato, translated by Lesley Brown, Sophist, page 261a:

        we'll nail the sophist to it, if we can get him on that charge;

      • 2006, Michael Pollan, The Omnivore's Dilemma, The Penguin Press, →ISBN, page 150:

        A charge often leveled against organic agriculture is that it is more philosophy than science.

6. (electromagnetism, chemistry, physics, countable, uncountable) An electric charge.
7. 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.

8. 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.

9. A load or burden; cargo.

   The ship had a charge of colonists and their belongings.

10. An instruction.

    I gave him the charge to get the deal closed by the end of the month.

11. (property law) A mortgage.
12. (basketball) An offensive foul in which the player with the ball moves into a stationary defender.
13. (firearms) A measured amount of powder and/or shot in a cartridge.
14. (by extension) A measured amount of explosive.
    • 1953, Samuel Beckett, Watt, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Grove Press, published 1959, →OCLC:

      Watt might have broken the door down, with an axe, or a crow, or a small charge of explosive, but this might have aroused Erskine's suspicions, and Watt did not want that.

16. (heraldry) An image displayed on an escutcheon.

    Hypernym: bearing

    Comeronym: field

    Near-synonym: emblem

17. (weaponry) A position (of a weapon) fitted for attack.

    to bring a weapon to the charge

18. (farriery) A sort of plaster or ointment.
19. (obsolete) Weight; import; value.
    • c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene ii]:

      many suchlike as's of great charge

20. (historical or obsolete) A measure of thirty-six pigs of lead, each pig weighing about seventy pounds; a charre.
21. (ecclesiastical) An address given at a church service concluding a visitation.
22. (slang, uncountable) Cannabis.
    • 1966, Alan Bestic, Turn Me on Man, page 58:

      At about the same time I went off pills and started smoking charge marijuana, you know.

    • 1970, Sean O'Callaghan, Drug Addiction in Britain, page 51:

      It had been a false alarm, and £2 worth of charge (marijuana) had gone out of the window.

Verb

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

1. To assign a duty or responsibility to.
   • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Joshua 22:5:

     Moses […] charged you to love the Lord your God.

   • 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]:

     Cromwell, I charge thee, fling away ambition.

2. (transitive) To assign (a debit) to an account.

   Let's charge this to marketing.

3. (transitive, intransitive) To require payment (of) (a price or fee, for goods, services, etc.).

   to charge high for goods

   I won't charge you for the wheat.

   • 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.

4. (transitive, chiefly US) To pay on account, as by using a credit card.

   Can I charge my purchase to my credit card?

   Can I charge this purchase?

5. (transitive, dated) To sell (something) at a given price.

   to charge coal at $5 per unit

6. (transitive, criminal law, law enforcement) To formally accuse (a person) of a crime.

   I'm charging you with assault and battery.

7. (transitive, property law) To mortgage (a property).
8. To impute or ascribe.
   • 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:

     No more accuse thy pen, but charge the crime / On native sloth, and negligence of time.

   • 1966, Stringfellow Barr, The Mask of Jove:

     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.

9. To call to account; to challenge.
   • 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]:

     to charge me to an answer

10. (transitive) To place a burden, load or responsibility on or in.
    • 1693, [John Locke], “§64”, in Some Thoughts Concerning Education, London: […] A[wnsham] and J[ohn] Churchill, […], →OCLC:

      the charging of children's memories […] with rules

    • 1800, James Hogg, The Mysterious Bride:

      [H]er grandfather […] charged her as she valued her life never to mention that again […]

    • 1911, The Encyclopedia Britannica, entry on Moya:

      [A] huge torrent of boiling black mud, charged with blocks of rock and moving with enormous rapidity, rolled like an avalanche down the gorge.

    1. To ornament with or cause to bear.

       to charge an architectural member with a moulding

    2. (heraldry) To assume as a bearing.

       He charges three roses.

    3. (heraldry) To add to or represent on.

       He charges his shield with three roses or.

11. (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.

    • 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]:

      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 replenish energy to (a battery, or a device containing a battery) by use of an electrical device plugged into a power outlet.

       He charged the battery overnight.

       Don't forget to charge the drill.

       I charge my phone every night.

    3. (intransitive, of a battery or a device containing a battery) To replenish energy.

       The battery is still charging: I can't use it yet.

       His cell phone charges very quickly, whereas mine takes forever.

12. (intransitive) To move forward quickly and forcefully, particularly in combat and/or on horseback.
    • 2019 February 27, Drachinifel, 16:22 from the start, in The Battle of Samar - Odds? What are those?‎, archived from the original on 3 November 2022:

      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.

    1. (military, transitive and intransitive) To attack by moving forward quickly in a group.

       The impetuous corps charged the enemy lines.

       • c. 1587–1588, [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:

         My Lord, we haue diſcouered the enemie
         Readie to Charge you with a mightie army.

    2. (basketball) To commit a charging foul.
    3. (cricket, of a batsman) 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.
13. (transitive, of a hunting dog) To lie on the belly and be still. (A command given by a hunter to a dog)

Further reading

• “charge”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “charge”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.

Anagrams

• Creagh

Alternative forms

• chargie (obsolete)

Etymology

Borrowed from Middle French charge.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈʃɑr.ʒə/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: char‧ge

Noun

charge f (plural charges)

1. a charge (fast ground attack)

Etymology

Inherited from Middle French charge, from Old French charge, carge, equivalent to a deverbal from charger.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ʃaʁʒ/

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

charge f (plural charges)

1. load, burden

   charge pesante ― heavy load

2. cargo, freight

   La charge de ce bateau est de cinquante tonneaux. ― The freight of this boat is fifty tons.

3. responsibility, charge

   J’ai la charge de vous dire que... ― I have the responsibility to tell you that...

4. (law) charge

   Ce fait constitue une charge très grave contre le prévenu. ― This fact constitutes a very serious charge against the accused.

5. (military) charge

   une charge massive contre les positions allemandes ― a massive charge against the German positions

6. caricature, comic exaggeration
7. (physics) charge
8. (heraldry) charge
9. (in the plural) costs, expenses

Verb

charge

1. inflection of charger:
   1. first/third-person singular present indicative/subjunctive
   2. second-person singular imperative

Further reading

• “charge”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Anagrams

• gâcher

Verb

charge

1. first-person singular present indicative of chargen
   • 1470–1483 (date produced), Thom̃s Malleorre [i.e., Thomas Malory], “[Morte Arthur]”, in Le Morte Darthur (British Library Additional Manuscript 59678), [England: s.n.], folio 449, verso, lines 15–18:

     Than ſpake ẜ Gawayne And ſeyde brothir · ẜ Aggravayne I pray you and charge you meve no ſuch · maters no more a fore me fro wyte you well I woll nat be of youre counceyle //

     Then spoke Sir Gawain, and said, “Brother, Sir Agrivain, I pray you and charge you move not such matters any more before me, for be ye assured I will not be of your counsel.”