Charge (?), n. [F. charge, fr. charger to load. See Charge, v. t., and cf. Cargo, Caricature.]
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.
&fist; 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 sort 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.
Back charge. See under Back, a.
-- Bursting charge. (a (Mil.) The charge which bursts a shell, etc. (b (Mining) A small quantity of fine powder to secure the
ignition of a charge of coarse powder in blasting. -- Charge and discharge (Equity Practice), the old mode or form of taking an account before a master in chancery. -- Charge
sheet, the paper on which are entered at a police station all arrests and accusations. -- To sound the charge, to give the signal for an
attack.
Syn. -- Care; custody; trust; management; office; expense; cost; price; assault; attack; onset; injunction; command; order; mandate; instruction; accusation; indictment.
Charge (?), v. i. 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 (chärj), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Charged
(chärjd); p. pr. & vb. n. Charging.]
[OF.
chargier, F. charger, fr. LL. carricare, fr. L. carrus wagon. Cf. Cargo, Caricature, Cark,
and see Car.] 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, fling away ambition.
Shak.
3. To lay
on, impose, or make subject to or
liable for.
When land shall be charged by any lien.
Kent.
4. To fix
or demand as a price; as, he charges two dollars a barrel 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 sloth 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 he did that wrong you charge him 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.
Hear it pronounced