charge /tʃɑrdʒ/ Pronunciation Key - Show Spelled Pronunciation[chahrj] Pronunciation Key - Show IPA Pronunciation verb, charged, charg·ing, noun
–verb (used with object)
1. to impose or ask as a price or fee: That store charges $25 for leather gloves.
2. to impose on or ask of (someone) a price or fee: He didn't charge me for it.
3. to defer payment for (a purchase) until a bill is rendered by the creditor: The store let me charge the coat.
4. to hold liable for payment; enter a debit against.
5. to attack by rushing violently against: The cavalry charged the enemy.
6. to accuse formally or explicitly (usually fol. by with): They charged him with theft.
7. to impute; ascribe the responsibility for: He charged the accident to his own carelessness.
8. to instruct authoritatively, as a judge does a jury.
9. to lay a command or injunction upon: He charged his secretary with the management of his correspondence.
10. to fill or furnish (a thing) with the quantity, as of powder or fuel, that it is fitted to receive: to charge a musket.
11. to supply with a quantity of electric charge or electrical energy: to charge a storage battery.
12. to change the net amount of positive or negative electric charge of (a particle, body, or system).
13. to suffuse, as with emotion: The air was charged with excitement.
14. to fill (air, water, etc.) with other matter in a state of diffusion or solution: The air was charged with pollen.
15. Metallurgy. to load (materials) into a furnace, converter, etc.
16. to load or burden (the mind, heart, etc.): His mind was charged with weighty matters.
17. to put a load or burden on or in.
18. to record the loan of, as books or other materials from a library (often fol. by out): The librarian will charge those books at the front desk.
19. to borrow, as books or other materials from a library (often fol. by out): How many magazines may I charge at one time?
20. Heraldry. to place charges on (an escutcheon).
–verb (used without object)
21. to make an onset; rush, as to an attack.
22. to place the price of a thing to one's debit.
23. to require payment: to charge for a service.
24. to make a debit, as in an account.
25. (of dogs) to lie down at command.
–noun
26. expense or cost: improvements made at a tenant's own charge.
27. a fee or price charged: a charge of three dollars for admission.
28. a pecuniary burden, encumbrance, tax, or lien; cost; expense; liability to pay: After his death there were many charges on his estate.
29. an entry in an account of something due.
30. an impetuous onset or attack, as of soldiers.
31. a signal by bugle, drum, etc., for a military charge.
32. a duty or responsibility laid upon or entrusted to one.
33. care, custody, or superintendence: The child was placed in her nurse's charge.
34. anything or anybody committed to one's care or management: The nurse was careful to let no harm come to her charge.
35. Ecclesiastical. a parish or congregation committed to the spiritual care of a pastor.
36. a command or injunction; exhortation.
37. an accusation: He was arrested on a charge of theft.
38. Law. an address by a judge to a jury at the close of a trial, instructing it as to the legal points, the weight of evidence, etc., affecting the verdict in the case.
39. the quantity of anything that an apparatus is fitted to hold, or holds, at one time: a charge of coal for a furnace.
40. a quantity of explosive to be set off at one time.
41. Electricity.
a. electric charge.
b. the process of charging a storage battery.
42. Slang. a thrill; kick.
43. Rocketry. grains of a solid propellant, usually including an inhibitor.
44. a load or burden.
45. Heraldry. any distinctive mark upon an escutcheon, as an ordinary or device, not considered as belonging to the field; bearing.
—Verb phrases
46. charge off,
a. to write off as an expense or loss.
b. to attribute to: I charged off the blunder to inexperience.
47. charge up, Informal.
a. to agitate, stimulate, or excite: a fiery speaker who can charge up an audience.
b. to put or be under the influence of narcotic drugs.
—Idioms
48. in charge,
a. in command; having supervisory power.
b. British. under arrest; in or into the custody of the police.
49. in charge of,
a. having the care or supervision of: She is in charge of two libraries.
b. Also, in the charge of. under the care or supervision of: The books are in the charge of the accounting office.
