charge

plural charges

1. countableuncountableThe amount of money levied for a service.

   There will be a charge of five dollars.

   1 more example

   There is a cancellation charge if you withdraw your order.

2. countableuncountablegovernmentAn 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. countableuncountableA 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.
   1. countableuncountableAn official description (by the police or a court) of a crime that somebody may be guilty of.

      two charges of manslaughter

      1 more example

      "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, N.Y.: One World, Ballantine Books, →ISBN, page 108

      Synonyms: count

   2. countableuncountableAn accusation by a person or organization.

      That's a slanderous charge of abuse of trust.

      2 more examples

      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, complaint

5. countableuncountablechemistryAn electric charge.
6. countableuncountableThe scope of someone's responsibility.

   The child was in the nanny's charge.

   1 more example

   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 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 http://books.google.com/books?id=Pz-TAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA366&dq=key

7. countableuncountableSomeone 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. countableuncountableA load or burden; cargo.

   The ship had a charge of colonists and their belongings.

9. countableuncountableAn instruction.

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

10. countableuncountablelawA mortgage.
11. countableuncountableball gamesAn offensive foul in which the player with the ball moves into a stationary defender.
12. countableuncountableengineeringA measured amount of powder and/or shot in a cartridge.
13. broadlycountableuncountableA measured amount of explosive.

    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.

    1953, Samuel Beckett, Watt, [Paris]: Olympia Press, →OCLC

14. countableuncountablegovernmentAn image displayed on an escutcheon.

    Near-synonym: emblem

    Synonyms: emblem

15. countableuncountableengineeringA position (of a weapon) fitted for attack.

    to bring a weapon to the charge

16. countableuncountablefarrieryA sort of plaster or ointment.
17. countableobsoleteuncountableWeight; import; value.

    many suchlike as's of great charge

    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]

18. countablehistoricalobsoleteuncountableA measure of thirty-six pigs of lead, each pig weighing about seventy pounds; a charre.
19. countableuncountableecclesiasticalAn address given at a church service concluding a visitation.
20. slanguncountableCannabis.

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

    1966, Alan Bestic, Turn Me on Man, page 58

    1 more example

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

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

present singular third person charges · participle present charging · participle past charged · past charged

1. To assign a duty or responsibility to; to order.

   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, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene ii]

   1 more example

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

   1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Joshua 22:5

2. transitiveTo assign (a debit) to an account.

   Let's charge this to marketing.

   1 more example

   The law firm's billings are up this month: she's charged 1,000 billing hours to that case.

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

   to charge high for goods

   2 more examples

   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 is sorting pupils into ability groups by streaming or setting.

   2013 July 19, Peter Wilby, “Finland spreads word on schools”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 189, number 6, page 30

   Synonyms: assess

4. UStransitiveTo pay on account, as by using a credit card.

   Can I charge this purchase?

   1 more example

   Can I charge my purchase to my credit card?

5. datedtransitiveTo sell (something) at a given price.

   to charge coal at $5 per unit

6. transitivecriminal lawgovernmentTo formally accuse (a person) of a crime.

   I'm charging you with assault and battery.

   Synonyms: criminate, inculpate, indict, accriminate, accuse, appeach, arraign, becry

7. transitivelawTo 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 Satires of Decimus Junius Juvenalis. Translated into English Verse. […] Together with the Satires of Aulus Persius Flaccus. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson […], →OCLC

   1 more example

   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 Jove

   Synonyms: attribute, chalk up to, put down to, accredit, ascribe, attach, attribute, chalk up to

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 Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene i]

10. transitiveTo 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

    2 more examples

    [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. transitiveTo ornament with or cause to bear.

       to charge an architectural member with a moulding

    2. transitivegovernmentTo assume as a bearing.

       He charges three roses.

    3. transitivegovernmentTo add to or represent on.

       He charges his shield with three roses or.

       1 more example

       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 first quarter, Londonderry in the second quarter, Enniskillen in the third, and Belfast in the fourth; and overall is a gold inescutcheon (a small shield placed in the centre of the large shield) charged with the red left hand of Ulster.

       1956 July, Col. H. C. B. Rogers, “Railway Heraldry”, in Railway Magazine, pages 476-477

11. transitiveTo 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.

    1 more example

    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: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene i]

    1. transitiveTo cause to take on an electric charge.

       Rubbing amber with wool will charge it quickly.

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

       I charge my phone every night.

       2 more examples

       He charged the battery overnight.

       Don't forget to charge the drill.

    3. intransitivetransitiveTo replenish energy.

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

       1 more example

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

12. intransitiveTo 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 February 27, Drachinifel, 16:22 from the start, in The Battle of Samar - Odds? What are those?, archived from the original on 03 Nov 2022

    1. intransitivetransitivegovernmentTo attack by moving forward quickly in a group.

       The impetuous corps charged the enemy lines.

       1 more example

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

       c. 1587–1588 (date written), [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

    2. intransitiveball gamesTo commit a charging foul.
    3. intransitiveball gamesTo 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. transitiveTo lie on the belly and be still. (A command given by a hunter to a dog)

1. abbreviationellipsisuncountableEllipsis of CHARGE syndrome.

   Synonyms: CHARGE association