The Collaborative International Dictionary
Discharge \Dis*charge"\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Discharged; p. pr. & vb. n. Discharging.] [OE. deschargen, dischargen, OF. deschargier, F. d['e]charger; pref. des- (L. dis) + chargier, F. charger. See Charge.]
To relieve of a charge, load, or burden; to empty of a load or cargo; to unburden; to unload; as, to discharge a vessel.
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To free of the missile with which anything is charged or loaded; to let go the charge of; as, to discharge a bow, catapult, etc.; especially, said of firearms, -- to fire off; to shoot off; also, to relieve from a state of tension, as a Leyden jar.
The galleys also did oftentimes, out of their prows, discharge their great pieces against the city.
--Knolles.Feeling in other cases discharges itself in indirect muscular actions.
--H. Spencer. -
To of something weighing upon or impeding over one, as a debt, claim, obligation, responsibility, accusation, etc.; to absolve; to acquit; to clear.
Discharged of business, void of strife.
--Dryden.In one man's fault discharge another man of his duty.
--L'Estrange. -
To relieve of an office or employment; to send away from service; to dismiss.
Discharge the common sort With pay and thanks.
--Shak.Grindal . . . was discharged the government of his see.
--Milton. To release legally from confinement; to set at liberty; as, to discharge a prisoner.
To put forth, or remove, as a charge or burden; to take out, as that with which anything is loaded or filled; as, to discharge a cargo.
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To let fly, as a missile; to shoot.
They do discharge their shot of courtesy.
--Shak. -
To set aside; to annul; to dismiss.
We say such an order was ``discharged on appeal.''
--Mozley & W.The order for Daly's attendance was discharged.
--Macaulay. -
To throw off the obligation of, as a duty or debt; to relieve one's self of, by fulfilling conditions, performing duty, trust, and the like; hence, to perform or execute, as an office, or part.
Had I a hundred tongues, a wit so large As could their hundred offices discharge.
--Dryden. -
To send away (a creditor) satisfied by payment; to pay one's debt or obligation to. [Obs.]
If he had The present money to discharge the Jew.
--Shak. To give forth; to emit or send out; as, a pipe discharges water; to let fly; to give expression to; to utter; as, to discharge a horrible oath.
To prohibit; to forbid. [Scot. Obs.]
--Sir W. Scott.-
(Textile Dyeing & Printing) To bleach out or to remove or efface, as by a chemical process; as, to discharge the color from a dyed fabric in order to form light figures on a dark ground.
Discharging arch (Arch.), an arch over a door, window, or other opening, to distribute the pressure of the wall above. See Illust. of Lintel.
Discharging piece, Discharging strut (Arch.), a piece set to carry thrust or weight to a solid point of support.
Discharging rod (Elec.), a bent wire, with knobs at both ends, and insulated by a glass handle. It is employed for discharging a Leyden jar or an electrical battery. See Discharger.
Syn: See Deliver.
Wiktionary
vb. (en-past of: discharge)
WordNet
adj. set free as from prison or duty [syn: released]
having lost your job [syn: dismissed, fired, laid-off, pink-slipped]
Usage examples of "discharged".
At the same time that he obliged the worthless favorites of the tyrant to resign a part of their ill gotten wealth, he satisfied the just creditors of the state, and unexpectedly discharged the long arrears of honest services.
Whether he traces the progress of hostile religions, or leads from the shores of the Baltic, or the verge of the Chinese empire, the successive hosts of barbarians - though one wave has hardly burst and discharged itself, before another swells up and approaches - all is made to flow in the same direction, and the impression which each makes upon the tottering fabric of the Roman greatness, connects their distant movements, and measures the relative importance assigned to them in the panoramic history.
He despised the honors, renounced the pleasures, and discharged with incessant diligence the duties, of his exalted station.
Whatever may have been the case in the rural districts, in the towns and cities the household duties were almost entirely discharged by slaves, and vast numbers belonged to the public establishments.
The emigration of the Gauls followed the course of the Danube, and discharged itself on Greece and Asia.
The price of their fatal elevation was instantly discharged to the troops by an immense donative, drawn from the bowels of the exhausted people.
By investing a luxurious youth with the honors of the purple, Marcus had discharged a debt of private gratitude, at the expense, indeed, of the happiness of the state.
Without abolishing all the various customs and duties on merchandises, which are imperceptibly discharged by the apparent choice of the purchaser, the policy of Constantine and his successors preferred a simple and direct mode of taxation, more congenial to the spirit of an arbitrary government.
In the time of Constantine, the territory of the Aedui afforded no more than twenty-five thousand heads of capitation, of whom seven thousand were discharged by that prince from the intolerable weight of tribute.
On this artificial lake, a fleet of armed vessels filled with soldiers, and with engines which discharged stones of five hundred pounds weight, advanced in order of battle, and engaged, almost upon a level, the troops which defended the ramparts.
The doors were at length burst open: a cloud of arrows was discharged among the people.
A shower of stones, darts, and fire, was incessantly discharged on the heads of the assailants.
As they exclaimed, ^93 a cloud of darts and arrows was discharged from the flying squadrons.
Such funeral rites, as the circumstances of time and place would admit, were piously discharged to some officers of distinguished rank.
Their fury, provoked by a feeble opposition, discharged itself on the images of the Imperial family, which were erected, as objects of public veneration, in the most conspicuous places of the city.