CHARGE

I. noun Etymology: Middle English, from Anglo-French, from ~r Date: 13th century 1. a material load or weight, a figure borne on a heraldic field, 2. the quantity that an apparatus is intended to receive and fitted to hold, the quantity of explosive used in a single dis~, a store or accumulation of impelling force , a definite quantity of electricity, thrill , kick , 3. obligation , requirement , management , supervision , the ecclesiastical jurisdiction (as a parish) committed to a clergyman, a person or thing committed to the care of another, 4. instruction , command , instruction in points of law given by a court to a jury, 5. expense , cost , the price demanded for something , a debit to an account , the record of a loan (as of a book from a library), an interest in property granted as security for a loan, 6. a formal assertion of illegality , a statement of complaint or hostile criticism , 7. a. a violent rush forward (as to attack) , the signal for attack , a usually illegal rush into an opponent in various sports (as basketball), II. verb (~d; charging) see: car Date: 14th century transitive verb 1. to lay or put a load on or in ; load , b. to place a ~ (as of powder) in, to load or fill to capacity, c. to restore the active materials in (a storage battery) by the passage of a direct current through in the opposite direction to that of dis~, to give an electric ~ to , d. to assume as a heraldic bearing, to place a heraldic bearing on, to fill or furnish fully , electrify 2 , 2. to impose a task or responsibility on , to command, instruct, or exhort with authority , to give a ~ to (a jury), 3. to make an assertion against especially by ascribing guilt or blame , to place the guilt or blame for , to assert as an accusation , 4. to bring (a weapon) into position for attack ; level , to rush against ; attack , 5. a. to impose a financial burden on , to impose or record as financial obligation , b. to fix or ask as fee or payment , to ask payment of (a person) , to record (an item) as an expense, debt, obligation, or liability , intransitive verb to rush forward in or as if in assault ; attack , to ask or set a price , to ~ an item to an account , see: command