CHARGE, v.t.

1. That which is laid on or in; in a general sense, any load or burden. It is the same word radically as cargo.
2. The quantity of powder, or of powder and ball or shot, used to load a musket, cannon, or other like instrument.
3. An onset; a rushing on an enemy; attack; especially by moving troops with fixed bayonets. But it is used for an onset of cavalry as well as of infantry.
4. An order, injunction, mandate, command. Moses gave Joshua a charge. – Numb. xxvii. The king gave charge concerning Absalom. – 2 Sam. xviii. Hence,
5. That which is enjoined, committed, intrusted or delivered to another, implying care, custody, oversight, or duty to be performed by the person intrusted. I gave Hanani charge over Jerusalem. – Neh. vii. Hence the word includes any trust or commission; an office, duty, employment. It is followed by of or over; more generally by of. Hence,
6. The person or thing committed to another's custody, care or management; a trust. Thus the people of a parish are called the minister's charge. The starry guardian drove his charge away To some fresh pasture. – Dryden.
7. Instructions given by a judge to a jury, or by a bishop to his clergy. The word may be used as synonymous with command, direction, exhortation or injunction, but always implies solemnity.
8. Imputation in a bad sense; accusation. Lay not this sin to their charge. – Acts vii.
9. That which constitutes debt, in commercial transactions; an entry of money or the price of goods, on the debit side of an account.
10. Cost; expense; as, the charges of the war are to be borne by the nation.
11. Imposition on land or estate; rent, tax, or whatever constitutes a burden or duty.
12. In military affairs, a signal to attack; as to sound the charge.
13. The posture of a weapon fitted for an attack or combat. Their armed slaves in charge. – Shak.
14. Among farriers, a preparation of the consistence of a thick decoction, or between an ointment and a plaster, used as a remedy for sprains and inflammations.
15. In heraldry, that which is borne upon the color; or the figures represented on the escutcheon, by which the bearers are distinguished from one another.
16. In electrical experiments, a quantity of electrical fluid, communicated to a coated jar, vial or pane of glass.
17. In painting, charge or overcharge is an exaggeration of character in form, color or expression. – Elmes. A charge of lead, is thirty-six pigs, each containing six stone, wanting two pounds.

To make an onset. Thus Glanville says, “like your heroes of antiquity, he charges in iron;” and we say, to charge with fixed bayonets. But in this application, the object is understood; to charge the enemy.

1. To rush on; to fall on; to attack, especially with fixed bayonets; as, an army charges the enemy.
2. To load, as a musket or cannon; to thrust in powder, or powder and ball or shot.
3. To load or burden; to throw on or impose that which oppresses; as, to charge the stomach with indigestible food; or to lay on, or to fill, without oppressing; as, to charge the memory with rules and precepts; to charge the mind with facts.
4. To set or lay on; to impose, as a tax; as, the land is charged with a quit rent; a rent is charged on the land.
5. To lay on or impose, as a task. The gospel chargeth us with piety toward God. – Tillotson.
6. To put or lay on; as, to charge a building with ornaments, often implying superfluity.
7. To lay on, as a duty; followed by with. The commander charged the officer with the execution of the project. See Gen. xl. 4.
8. To intrust to; as, an officer is charged with dispatches.
9. To set to, as a debt; to place on the debit side of an account; as, to charge a man with the price of goods sold to him.
10. To load or lay on in words, something wrong, reproachful or criminal; to impute to; as, to charge a man with theft.
11. To lay on in words; to impute to; followed by on before the person; as, to charge a crime on the offender; to charge evil consequences on the doctrines of the stoics.
12. To censure; to accuse. In all this, Job sinned not, nor charged God foolishly. – Job i.
13. To lay on, give or communicate, as an order, command, or earnest request; to enjoin; to exhort. Charge them that are rich in this world, that they be not high-minded. – 1 Tim. vi. In this sense, when the command is given in the name of God, or with an oath, the phrase amounts to an adjuration. To adjure; to bind by an oath. – 1 Sam. xiv. 28.
14. To give directions to; to instruct authoritatively; as, the judge charged the grand jury to inquire respecting breaches of the peace.
15. To communicate electrical matter to; as, to a coated vial, or an electrical battery.

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 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.

3. A load or burder laid upon a person or thing.
4. 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.

5. To demand a price; as, to charge high for goods.
6. A person or thing commited 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.

7. To lay on, impose, or make subject to or liable for.
   
   

   When land shall be charged by any lien.
   Kent.

8. To debit on an account; as, to charge for purchases.
9. 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.

10. To fix or demand as a price; as, he charges two dollars a barrel for apples.
11. To squat on its belly and be still; -- a command given by a sportsman to a dog.
12. Heed; care; anxiety; trouble.
    
    
    [Obs.] Chaucer.
13. 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.
14. Harm.
    
    
    [Obs.] Chaucer.
15. 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.

16. An order; a mandate or command; an injunction.
    
    

    The king gave cherge concerning Absalom.
    2. Sam. xviii. 5.

17. 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.

18. 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.
19. 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.

20. An accusation of a wrong of offense; allegation; indictment; specification of something alleged.
    
    

    The charge of confounding very different classes of phenomena.
    Whewell.

21. To ornament with or cause to bear; as, to charge an architectural member with a molding.
22. Whatever constitutes a burden on property, as rents, taxes, lines, etc.; costs; expense incurred; -- usually in the plural.
23. 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.
24. The price demanded for a thing or service.
25. To call to account; to challenge.
    
    
    [Obs.]

    To charge me to an answer.
    Shak.

26. 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.
27. 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.

28. 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
29. 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.

30. A position (of a weapon) fitted for attack; as, to bring a weapon to the charge.
31. A sort of plaster or ointment.
32. A bearing. See Bearing, n., 8.
33. Thirty-six pigs of lead, each pig weighing about seventy pounds; -- called also charre.
34. Weight; import; value.
    
    

    Many suchlike "as's" of great charge.
    Shak.

    Back charge. See under Back, a. -- Bursting charge. (a (Mil.) The charge which bursts a shell, etc. (b (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.