Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

Charge

Charge (charj) , transitive verb

[Old French chargier, French charger, from Late Latin carricare, from Latin carrus wagon. Compare Cargo, Caricature, Cark, and see Car.]

1.
To lay on or impose, as a load, tax, or burden; to load; to fill.
A carte that charged was with hay. — Chaucer
The charging of children's memories with rules. — Locke
2.
To lay on or impose, as a task, duty, or trust; to command, instruct, or exhort with authority; to enjoin; to urge earnestly; as, to charge a jury; to charge the clergy of a diocese; to charge an agent.
Moses... charged you to love the Lord your God. — Josh. xxii. 5
Cromwell, I charge thee, fling away ambition. — Shakespeare
3.
To lay on, impose, or make subject to or liable for.
When land shall be charged by any lien. — Kent
4.
To fix or demand as a price; as, he charges two dollars a barrel for apples.
5.
To place something to the account of as a debt; to debit, as, to charge one with goods. Also, to enter upon the debit side of an account; as, to charge a sum to one.
6.
To impute or ascribe; to lay to one's charge.
No more accuse thy pen, but charge the crime On native sloth and negligence of time. — Dryden
7.
To accuse; to make a charge or assertion against (a person or thing); to lay the responsibility (for something said or done) at the door of.
If he did that wrong you charge him with. — Tennyson
8.
To place within or upon any firearm, piece of apparatus or machinery, the quantity it is intended and fitted to hold or bear; to load; to fill; as, to charge a gun; to charge an electrical machine, etc.
Their battering cannon charged to the mouths. — Shakespeare
9.
To ornament with or cause to bear; as, to charge an architectural member with a molding.
10.
(Heraldry) To assume as a bearing; as, he charges three roses or; to add to or represent on; as, he charges his shield with three roses or.
11.
To call to account; to challenge. [Obsolete]
To charge me to an answer. — Shakespeare
12.
To bear down upon; to rush upon; to attack.
Charged our main battle's front. — Shakespeare

Charge , intransitive verb

1.
To make an onset or rush; as, to charge with fixed bayonets.
Like your heroes of antiquity, he charges in iron. — Glanvill
Charge for the guns!” he said. — Tennyson
2.
To demand a price; as, to charge high for goods.
3.
To debit on an account; as, to charge for purchases.
4.
To squat on its belly and be still; -- a command given by a sportsman to a dog.

Charge , noun

[French charge, from charger to load. See Charge, transitive verb, and compare Cargo, Caricature.]

1.
A load or burder laid upon a person or thing.
2.
A person or thing committed or intrusted to the care, custody, or management of another; a trust.

The people of a parish or church are called the charge of the clergyman who is set over them.

3.
Custody or care of any person, thing, or place; office; responsibility; oversight; obligation; duty.
'Tis a great charge to come under one body's hand. — Shakespeare
4.
Heed; care; anxiety; trouble. [Obsolete] — Chaucer
5.
Harm. [Obsolete] — Chaucer
6.
An order; a mandate or command; an injunction.
The king gave cherge concerning Absalom. — 2. Sam. xviii. 5
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.
8.
An accusation of a wrong of offense; allegation; indictment; specification of something alleged.
The charge of confounding very different classes of phenomena. — Whewell
9.
Whatever constitutes a burden on property, as rents, taxes, lines, etc.; costs; expense incurred; -- usually in the plural.
10.
The price demanded for a thing or service.
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.
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
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.
Never, in any other war afore, gave the Romans a hotter charge upon the enemies. — Holland
The charge of the light brigade. — Tennyson
14.
A position (of a weapon) fitted for attack; as, to bring a weapon to the charge.
15.
(Farriery) A sort of plaster or ointment.
16.
(Heraldry) A bearing. See Bearing, n., 8.
17.
Thirty-six pigs of lead, each pig weighing about seventy pounds; -- called also charre.
18.
Weight; import; value.
Many suchlike “as's” of great charge. — Shakespeare
Collocations (5)
Back charge , See under Back, a.
Bursting charge (Military) , The charge which bursts a shell, etc. 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.