What is "charge"

Charge \Charge\ (ch[aum]rj), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Charged (ch[aum]rjd); p. pr. & vb. n. Charging.] [OF. chargier, F. charger, fr. LL. carricare, fr. L. carrus wagon. Cf. 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.
   --Shak.

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.
   --Shak.

9. To ornament with or cause to bear; as, to charge an architectural member with a molding.

10. (Her.) 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. [Obs.]

    To charge me to an answer.
    --Shak.

12. To bear down upon; to rush upon; to attack.

    Charged our main battle's front.
    --Shak.

    Syn: To intrust; command; exhort; instruct; accuse; impeach; arraign. See Accuse.

Charge \Charge\, v. i.

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 \Charge\, n. [F. charge, fr. charger to load. See Charge, v. t., and cf. Cargo, Caricature.]

1. A load or burder laid upon a person or thing.

2. A person or thing commited or intrusted to the care, custody, or management of another; a trust.

   Note: 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; obigation; duty.

   'Tis a great charge to come under one body's hand.
   --Shak.

4. Heed; care; anxiety; trouble. [Obs.]
   --Chaucer.

5. Harm. [Obs.]
   --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. (Far.) A sort of plaster or ointment.

16. (Her.) A bearing. See Bearing, n., 8.

17. [Cf. Charre.] 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. --Shak. Back charge. See under Back, a. Bursting charge.

    1. (Mil.) The charge which bursts a shell, etc.

    2. (Mining) 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.

       Syn: Care; custody; trust; management; office; expense; cost; price; assault; attack; onset; injunction; command; order; mandate; instruction; accusation; indictment.

early 13c., "to load, fill," from Old French chargier "to load, burden, weigh down," from Late Latin carricare "to load a wagon or cart," from Latin carrus "wagon" (see car). Senses of "entrust," "command," "accuse" all emerged in Middle English and were found in Old French. Sense of "rush in to attack" is 1560s, perhaps through earlier meaning "load a weapon" (1540s). Meaning "impose a burden of expense" is from mid-14c. Meaning "fill with electricity" is from 1748. Related: Charged; charging. Chargé d'affaires was borrowed from French, 1767, literally "(one) charged with affairs."

c.1200, "a load, a weight," from Old French charge "load, burden; imposition," from chargier "to load, to burden" (see charge (v.)). Meaning "responsibility, burden" is mid-14c. (as in take charge, late 14c.; in charge, 1510s), which progressed to "pecuniary burden, cost, burden of expense" (mid-15c.), and then to "price demanded for service or goods" (1510s). Legal sense of "accusation" is late 15c.; earlier "injunction, order" (late 14c.). Electrical sense is from 1767. Slang meaning "thrill, kick" (American English) is from 1951.

n. 1 The scope of someone's responsibility. 2 Someone or something entrusted to one's care, such as a child to a babysitter or a student to a teacher. 3 A load or burden; cargo. 4 The amount of money levy for a service. 5 An instruction. 6 (context military English) A ground attack against a prepared enemy. 7 An accusation. 8 An electric charge. 9 (context basketball English) An offensive foul in which the player with the ball moves into a stationary defender. 10 A measured amount of powder and/or shot in a firearm cartridge. 11 (context heraldry English) An image displayed on an escutcheon. 12 A forceful forward movement. vb. 1 (context transitive English) To place a burden upon; to assign a duty or responsibility to. 2 # (context law English) To formally accuse of a crime. 3 # (context ambitransitive English) To require payment (for goods, services, etc.) of.

1. n. (criminal law) a pleading describing some wrong or offense; "he was arrested on a charge of larceny" [syn: complaint]

2. the price charged for some article or service; "the admission charge"

3. an assertion that someone is guilty of a fault or offence; "the newspaper published charges that Jones was guilty of drunken driving" [syn: accusation]

4. request for payment of a debt; "they submitted their charges at the end of each month" [syn: billing]

5. a impetuous rush toward someone or something; "the wrestler's charge carried him past his adversary"; "the battle began with a cavalry charge"

6. the quantity of unbalanced electricity in a body (either positive or negative) and construed as an excess or deficiency of electrons; "the battery needed a fresh charge" [syn: electric charge]

7. financial liabilities (such as a tax); "the charges against the estate"

8. a person committed to your care; "the teacher led her charges across the street"

9. attention and management implying responsibility for safety; "he is in the care of a bodyguard" [syn: care, tutelage, guardianship]

10. a special assignment that is given to a person or group; "a confidential mission to London"; "his charge was deliver a message" [syn: mission, commission]

11. a formal statement of a command or injunction to do something; "the judge's charge to the jury" [syn: commission, direction]

12. a quantity of explosive to be set off at one time; "this cartridge has a powder charge of 50 grains" [syn: burster, bursting charge, explosive charge]

13. the swift release of a store of affective force; "they got a great bang out of it"; "what a boot!"; "he got a quick rush from injecting heroin"; "he does it for kicks" [syn: bang, boot, rush, flush, thrill, kick]

14. (psychoanalysis) the libidinal energy invested in some idea or person or object; "Freud thought of cathexis as a psychic analog of an electrical charge" [syn: cathexis]

15. heraldry consisting of a design or image depicted on a shield [syn: bearing, heraldic bearing, armorial bearing]

1. v. to make a rush at or sudden attack upon, as in battle; "he saw Jess charging at him with a pitchfork" [syn: bear down]

2. blame for, make a claim of wrongdoing or misbehavior against; "he charged me director with indifference" [syn: accuse]

3. demand payment; "Will I get charged for this service?"; "We were billed for 4 nights in the hotel, although we stayed only 3 nights" [syn: bill]

4. move quickly and violently; "The car tore down the street"; "He came charging into my office" [syn: tear, shoot, shoot down, buck]

5. assign a duty, responsibility or obligation to; "He was appointed deputy manager"; "She was charged with supervising the creation of a concordance" [syn: appoint]

6. file a formal charge against; "The suspect was charged with murdering his wife" [syn: lodge, file]

7. make an accusatory claim; "The defense attorney charged that the jurors were biased"

8. fill or load to capacity; "charge the wagon with hay" [ant: discharge]

9. enter a certain amount as a charge; "he charged me $15"

10. cause to be admitted; of persons to an institution; "After the second episode, she had to be committed"; "he was committed to prison" [syn: commit, institutionalize, institutionalise, send]

11. give over to another for care or safekeeping; "consign your baggage" [syn: consign]

12. pay with a credit card; pay with plastic money; postpone payment by recording a purchase as a debt; "Will you pay cash or charge the purchase?" [ant: pay cash]

13. lie down on command, of hunting dogs

14. cause to be agitated, excited, or roused; "The speaker charged up the crowd with his inflammatory remarks" [syn: agitate, rouse, turn on, commove, excite, charge up] [ant: calm]

15. place a heraldic bearing on; "charge all weapons, shields, and banners"

16. provide with munition; "He loaded his gun carefully" [syn: load]

17. direct into a position for use; "point a gun"; "He charged his weapon at me" [syn: level, point]

18. impose a task upon, assign a responsibility to; "He charged her with cleaning up all the files over the weekend" [syn: saddle, burden]

19. instruct (a jury) about the law, its application, and the weighing of evidence

20. instruct or command with authority; "The teacher charged the children to memorize the poem"

21. attribute responsibility to; "We blamed the accident on her"; "The tragedy was charged to her inexperience" [syn: blame]

22. set or ask for a certain price; "How much do you charge for lunch?"; "This fellow charges $100 for a massage"

23. cause formation of a net electrical charge in or on; "charge a conductor"

24. energize a battery by passing a current through it in the direction opposite to discharge; "I need to charge my car battery"

25. saturate; "The room was charged with tension and anxiety"

Chargé is a commune in the Indre-et-Loire department in central France.

A charge is a maneuver in battle in which combatants advance towards their enemy at their best speed in an attempt to engage in close combat. The charge is the dominant shock attack and has been the key tactic and decisive moment of many battles throughout history. Modern charges usually involve small groups against individual positions (such as a bunker) instead of large groups of combatants charging another group or a fortified line.

1. redirect ion

Charge was originally produced as a youth television show aimed at showcasing viewer's user-generated content. It was broadcast on the Media Trust’s Community Channel on Sky channel 539, Virgin TV channel 233 and Freeview channel 87 in the UK.

After the second series it was decided to expand charge into a separate youth strand on the Community Channel and it ran in this form for two series.

Cavalry Charge is a bugle call which signals to execute a Cavalry charge, or to gallop forward into harm's way with deadly intent. A simple unmistakable call, it was even recognizable by experienced horses.

Charge is an album by Trinidadian soca artist Machel Montano and his band Xtatik released in 1998.

Charge is the fourth solo album by singer-songwriter David Ford, released on March 18, 2013.

Charge is the name of the executive of the German student fraternities. A member of the executive is called Chargierter (plural Chargierten). The oldest, "dueling" (schlagende) fraternities typically have three Chargierten, a senior (speaker), a consenior and a subsenior (usually the association's secretary).

During the European Middle Ages, a charge often meant an underage person placed under the supervision of a nobleman. Charges were the responsibility of the nobleman they were charged to, and they were usually expected to be treated as guests or a member of the household. Charges were at times used more or less openly as hostages, ensuring that the parents kept in line.

Today, the word is still used to mean anyone that a person is responsible for, such as a parent or chaperone's children, a supervisor's employees, a teacher's students, or a nurse or doctor's patients.

In heraldry, a charge is any emblem or device occupying the field of an escutcheon (shield). This may be a geometric design (sometimes called an ordinary) or a symbolic representation of a person, animal, plant, object or other device. In French blazon, the ordinaries are called pièces while other charges are called meubles (i.e. "mobile"; this is a homonym of "furniture" in Modern French).

The term charge can also be used as a verb; for example, if an escutcheon depicts three lions, then it is said to be charged with three lions; similarly, a crest or even a charge itself may be "charged", such as a pair of eagle wings charged with trefoils (e.g. Coat of arms of Brandenburg). It is important to distinguish between the ordinaries and divisions of the field, as these typically follow similar patterns, such as a shield divided "per chevron", as distinct from being charged with a chevron.

While thousands of objects found in nature, mythology or technology have appeared in armory, there are several charges (such as the cross, the eagle and the lion) which have contributed to the distinctive flavour of heraldic design. Only these and a few other notable charges (crowns, stars, keys, etc.) are discussed in this article, but a more exhaustive list will be found at List of heraldic charges.

In addition to being shown in the regular way charges may be "umbrated," and are rather irregularly sometimes stated to be "in silhouette" or are, more ambiguously, confusingly and unhelpfully, blazoned as "stylized" or "simplified."

In physics, a charge may refer to one of many different quantities, such as the electric charge in electromagnetism or the color charge in quantum chromodynamics. Charges correspond to the time-invariant generators of a symmetry group, and specifically, to the generators that commute with the Hamiltonian. Charges are often denoted by the letter Q, and so the invariance of the charge corresponds to the vanishing commutator [Q, H] = 0, where H is the Hamiltonian. Thus, charges are associated with conserved quantum numbers; these are the eigenvalues q of the generator Q.

"Charge" is a short fanfare frequently played at sporting events.

\relative c'' { \times 2/3 {g8 c e} g8.\staccato e16 g2 }

It was written by Tommy Walker while a junior at the University of Southern California in the fall of 1946. The fanfare consists of six notes followed by rooters shouting, "Charge!" Occasionally, the fanfare is repeated one or more times in the same key or in successively higher keys, or is preceded by a lead-in vamp.

In 1958 the Brooklyn Dodgers moved to Los Angeles and in the spring of 1959 the Dodgers put on sale, at $1.50 apiece, 20,000 toy trumpets capable of playing the six notes of the "Charge" fanfare. The fanfare was heard in NBC broadcasts of games 3, 4 and 5 of the 1959 World Series between the Dodgers and the Chicago White Sox.

It also appeared in the original The Flintstones 1960s television cartoon series (episode dates uncertain), followed by "Charge!" or "Charge it!", shouted by characters (typically Wilma Flintstone and Betty Rubble) on the way to a shopping spree. Scrappy-Doo, a character that appeared in the 1980s incarnations of the Scooby-Doo franchise, also regularly used the fanfare as a lead-in to his catchphrase, "puppy power!"

Bobby Kent, former musical director of the San Diego Chargers, has claimed he invented the "Charge" fanfare in 1978 while working for the Chargers. Kent filed suit against ASCAP for negotiating licenses with MLB, NFL, NBA, NHL, NCAA and NASCAR while failing to secure his consent. The Los Angeles Lakers settled with Kent for $3,000.

A pastoral charge in the United Methodist Church in the United States and the United Church of Canada consists of one or more congregations under the spiritual leadership of a minister or ministry team. In the United Methodist Church a charge is organized under and subject to the Book of Discipline, with a single governing body called a charge conference, to which a minister is appointed as pastor in charge. Charges are different from churches or congregations as they may encompass more than one church or congregation. This stems from the early days of Methodism in the United States and Canada, when multiple congregations were served by single ministers acting as circuit riders, riding on horseback between the sometimes far-flung congregations in their charge. A similar multi-congregation structure in the British Methodist Church is still referred to as a circuit.