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.

noun

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.
   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 March 2, 2011, Chris Whyatt, “Arsenal 5 - 0 Leyton Orient”, in BBC
4. An accusation.
   1. An official description (by the police or a court) of a crime that somebody may be guilty of.
      two charges of manslaughter
   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, page 150
5. (electromagnetism, chemistry) 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 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. 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. (basketball) An offensive foul in which the player with the ball moves into a stationary defender.
11. (firearms) A measured amount of powder and/or shot in a cartridge.
12. (by extension) A measured amount of explosive.
13. (heraldry) An image displayed on an escutcheon.
14. (weaponry) A position (of a weapon) fitted for attack.
    to bring a weapon to the charge
15. (farriery) A sort of plaster or ointment.
16. (obsolete) Weight; import; value.
17. (historical or obsolete) A measure of thirty-six pigs of lead, each pig weighing about seventy pounds; a charre.
18. (ecclesiastical) An address given at a church service concluding a visitation.
19. (slang, uncountable) Cannabis.
    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
    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

verb

1. To assign a duty or responsibility to.
2. (transitive) To assign (a debit) to an account.
   Let's charge this to marketing.
3. (transitive) To pay on account, as by using a credit card.
   Can I charge my purchase to my credit card?
   Can I charge this purchase?
4. (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.
   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. 2013-07-19, Peter Wilby, “Finland spreads word on schools”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 189, number 6, page 30
5. (dated) To sell at a given price.
   to charge coal at $5 per unit
6. (law) To formally accuse (a person) of a crime.
   I'm charging you with assault and battery.
7. To impute or ascribe.
   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
8. To call to account; to challenge.
9. (transitive) To place a burden, load or responsibility on or in.
   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.
10. (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.
    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.
11. (intransitive) To move forward quickly and forcefully, particularly in combat and/or on horseback.
    1. (military, transitive and intransitive) To attack by moving forward quickly in a group.
       The impetuous corps charged the enemy lines.
    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.
12. (transitive, of a hunting dog) To lie on the belly and be still. (A command given by a hunter to a dog)