surcharge

Etymology

From Middle French surcharge, from Old French. Surface etymology is sur- + charge. Doublet of supercharge.

noun

1. An addition of extra charge on the agreed or stated price.
   Our airline tickets cost twenty dollars more than we expected because we had to pay a fuel surcharge.
2. The part of the price of a subsidized good or service that is not covered by the subsidy and so must be paid by the consumer.
3. An excessive price charged e.g. to an unsuspecting customer.
4. (philately) An overprint on a stamp that alters (usually raises) the original nominal value of the stamp; used especially in times of hyperinflation.
5. (art) A painting in lighter enamel over a darker one that serves as the ground.
6. (law) A charge that has been omitted from an account as payment of a credit to the charged party
7. (law) A penalty for failure to exercise common prudence and skill in the performance of a fiduciary's duties.
8. (obsolete) An excessive load or burden.
9. (law, obsolete) The putting, by a commoner, of more animals on the common than he is entitled to.

verb

1. To apply a surcharge.
2. To overload; to overburden.
   to surcharge an animal or a ship; to surcharge a cannon
   The first, on January 1, 1883, was attributed to the overlay becoming surcharged with water, due to insufficient drainage, and causing a slip. 1943 March and April, “A British Avalanche Shelter”, in Railway Magazine, page 80
3. (law) To overstock; especially, to put more cattle into (e.g. a common) than one has a right to do, or more than the herbage will sustain.
4. To show an omission in (an account) for which credit ought to have been given.
   The Idle multitude surcharge their laies 1599, Samuel Daniel, Musophilus