charge

The amount of money levied for a service.

Noun

  1. The amount of money levied for a service.
    • There will be a charge of five dollars.
    • There is a cancellation charge if you withdraw your order.
  2. An attack in which combatants rush towards an enemy in an attempt to engage in close combat.
    • Pickett's Charge; the Charge of the Light Brigade
  3. A forceful forward movement.
    • 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 - 2011 March 2, Chris Whyatt, “Arsenal 5 - 0 Leyton Orient”, in BBC:
  4. An accusation.
    • two charges of manslaughter
    • "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." - 2006, Noire [pseudonym], Thug-A-Licious: An Urban Erotic Tale, New York,...

    Synonyms: count

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

    2. An accusation by a person or organization.

      • That's a slanderous charge of abuse of trust.
      • we'll nail the sophist to it, if we can get him on that charge; - 2005, Plato, translated by Lesley Brown, Sophist, page 261a:
      • A charge often leveled against organic agriculture is that it is more philosophy than science. - 2006, Michael Pollan, The Omnivore's Dilemma, The Penguin Press, →ISBN, page 150:

      Synonyms: count

  5. An electric charge.
  6. The scope of someone's responsibility.
    • The child was in the nanny's charge.
    • 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. - 1848 April 24, John K. Kane, opinion, United...
  7. 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.
  8. A load or burden; cargo.
    • The ship had a charge of colonists and their belongings.
  9. An instruction.
    • I gave him the charge to get the deal closed by the end of the month.
  10. A mortgage.
  11. An offensive foul in which the player with the ball moves into a stationary defender.
  12. A measured amount of powder and/or shot in a cartridge.

Origin

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *ḱers- Proto-Indo-European *-ós Proto-Indo-European *ḱr̥sós Proto-Celtic *karros Gaulish *karrosbor. Late Latin carrus Late Latin -ico Late Latin carricō Late Latin carricāre Old French chargierder. Middle English chargen English charge 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.

Forms

charges

Derived

access charge Allen charge apparent charge banzai charge bayonet charge blasting charge bluff charge carrying charge charge account chargeback chargecard charge card charge carrier charge conjugation charge-coupled device charge density charge description master chargeful charge hand chargehouse chargeless chargeling chargeman chargemaster

Verb

  1. To assign a duty or responsibility to; to order.
    • Moses […] charged you to love the Lord your God. - 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Joshua 22:5:
    • Cromwell, I charge thee, fling away ambition. - 1613 (date written), William Shakespeare, [John Fletcher], “The Famous History of the Life of King Henry the Eight”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, &...
  2. To assign (a debit) to an account.
    • Let's charge this to marketing.
  3. 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.
    • 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...
  4. 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. To sell (something) at a given price.
    • to charge coal at $5 per unit
  6. To formally accuse (a person) of a crime.
    • I'm charging you with assault and battery.

    Synonyms: criminate inculpate indict accriminate accuse appeach arraign becry charge have up incriminate

  7. To mortgage (a property).
  8. To impute or ascribe.
    • No more accuse thy pen, but charge the crime / On native sloth, and negligence of time. - 1693, Decimus Junius Juvenalis, John Dryden, transl., “[The Satires of Decimus Junius Juvenalis.] The Third Satyr”, in The...
    • 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. - 1966, Stringfellow Barr, The Mask of...

    Synonyms: attribute chalk up to put down to accredit ascribe attach charge draw impute lay repose

  9. To call to account; to challenge.
    • to charge me to an answer - 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...
  10. To place a burden, load or responsibility on or in.
    • the charging of children's memories[…] with rules - 1693, [John Locke], “§64”, in Some Thoughts Concerning Education, London: […] A[wnsham] and J[ohn] Churchill, […], →OCLC:
    • [H]er grandfather […] charged her as she valued her life never to mention that again […] - 1800, James Hogg, The Mysterious Bride:
    • [A] huge torrent of boiling black mud, charged with blocks of rock and moving with enormous rapidity, rolled like an avalanche down the gorge. - 1911, The Encyclopedia Britannica, entry on Moya

    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.
      • 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...
  11. 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.
    • their battering cannon charged to the mouths - c. 1596 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Life and Death of King Iohn”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […]...

    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. To move forward quickly and forcefully, particularly in combat and/or on horseback.
    • 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. - 2019...

Forms

charges charging charged

Related

carack cargo caricature cark discharge surcharge

Derived

countercharge discharge double-charge forecharge mischarge outcharge overcharge recharge reverse-charge supercharge trickle charge turbocharge twincharge uncharge undercharge upcharge chargeable chargee charger CHAdeMO charge down chargehand charge like a wounded bull charge off