from
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
Charge \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.
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2. A person or thing commited or intrusted to the care,
custody, or management of another; a trust.
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Note: The people of a parish or church are called the charge
of the clergyman who is set over them.
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3. Custody or care of any person, thing, or place; office;
responsibility; oversight; obigation; duty.
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'Tis a great charge to come under one body's hand.
--Shak.
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4. Heed; care; anxiety; trouble. [Obs.] --Chaucer.
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5. Harm. [Obs.] --Chaucer.
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6. An order; a mandate or command; an injunction.
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The king gave cherge concerning Absalom. --2. Sam.
xviii. 5.
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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.
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8. An accusation of a wrong of offense; allegation;
indictment; specification of something alleged.
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The charge of confounding very different classes of
phenomena. --Whewell.
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9. Whatever constitutes a burden on property, as rents,
taxes, lines, etc.; costs; expense incurred; -- usually in
the plural.
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10. The price demanded for a thing or service.
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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.
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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
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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.
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Never, in any other war afore, gave the Romans a
hotter charge upon the enemies. --Holland.
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The charge of the light brigade. --Tennyson.
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14. A position (of a weapon) fitted for attack; as, to bring
a weapon to the charge.
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15. (Far.) A sort of plaster or ointment.
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16. (Her.) A bearing. See {Bearing}, n., 8.
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17. [Cf. {Charre}.] Thirty-six pigs of lead, each pig
weighing about seventy pounds; -- called also {charre}.
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18. Weight; import; value.
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Many suchlike "as's" of great charge. --Shak.
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{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.
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