# charge

Pronunciation: US say "CHARJ" /t͡ʃɑɹd͡ʒ/; UK/AUS say "CHAHJ" /t͡ʃɑːd͡ʒ/

## Verb

1. To set or demand a price or fee as payment for goods, services, and so on.
   - Simple: To ask someone to pay money for something.
   - _Most airlines charge a fee for checked luggage._
   - _The consultant charged two hundred dollars an hour for her advice._
5. To lay an official accusation of a crime against someone.
   - Simple: To officially say that someone has broken the law.
   - _Prosecutors decided to charge the executive with insider trading._
   - _Authorities charged two suspects in connection with the arson._
6. To give someone a duty or responsibility; to order or instruct them to do something.
   - Simple: To give someone a job to do or tell them they must do it.
   - _The board charged the committee with reviewing the budget._
   - _The judge will charge the jury before deliberations begin._
7. To replenish energy, either by supplying it to something or by taking it in.
   - Simple: To take in energy, or to fill something with energy.
   - _Solar panels charge the cabin's batteries during the day._
   - _The flywheel charges as the vehicle brakes._
9. To rush forward with speed and force, especially to attack an enemy in battle.
   - Simple: To run quickly and hard toward someone or something, often to attack.
   - _The cavalry charged across the open field toward the enemy line._
   - _Rhinos can charge at speeds approaching thirty miles per hour._
12. To pay for something on account, as by using a credit card. *(US)*
   - Simple: To pay for something by putting it on a credit card or account.
   - _He decided to charge the plane tickets and pay them off later._
   - _Short on cash, she charged the new tires and hoped her next paycheck would cover the bill._
14. To cause an object to take on an electric charge, either positive or negative.
   - Simple: To make an object take on an electric charge.
   - _Friction charges the two surfaces as they slide against each other._
   - _A high-voltage supply can charge the metal dome until sparks jump from it._
15. To impute or ascribe something, such as blame or a fault, to a person or cause.
   - Simple: To say that something bad was caused by a person or thing.
   - _Critics charged the project's collapse to mismanagement rather than bad luck._
   - _Historians charge much of the famine to policy failures, not weather._
18. In basketball, to commit an offensive foul by running into a defender who has established a legal guarding position.
   - Simple: In basketball, to run into a defender who is standing still, which is a foul.
   - _He charged on the drive, and the basket was waved off._
   - _Players who charge repeatedly find themselves in early foul trouble._
19. To assign a cost or debit to a particular account in the books.
   - Simple: To record a cost as owed on a particular bill or account.
   - _The firm charges travel expenses directly to each client's account._
   - _Charge the overtime hours to the maintenance budget, not to payroll._
20. To supply equipment with the material it uses, such as putting powder into a firearm, water into a fire hose, or raw materials into a reactor.
   - Simple: To fill a machine or tool with the material it needs to work.
   - _The crew charged the kiln with limestone for the next firing._
   - _Operators charge the reactor with fresh catalyst at the start of each run._
23. To mortgage a property, offering it as security for a debt.
   - Simple: To use a house or land as a promise that you will pay back a loan.
   - _The company charged its warehouse to secure the new credit line._
   - _Owners who charge their land to a lender risk losing it if they fall behind on payments._

## Noun

2. The amount of money that a business or authority levies for a service.
   - Simple: The money you must pay for a service.
   - _The hotel applies a nightly charge for parking._
   - _Customers complained about hidden charges on their phone bills._
3. The range of duties or matters for which a person is responsible.
   - Simple: The things that a person is responsible for.
   - _The eastern district fell under the new manager's charge._
   - _She took charge of the relief effort within hours of the flood._
4. An accusation that someone has done wrong, especially a formal accusation by the police or a court that a person has committed a crime.
   - Simple: A statement that someone did something wrong, especially when the police say a person broke the law.
   - _Prosecutors filed a charge of fraud against the company's founder._
   - _She was released after the charges were dropped._
8. A physical property of matter that causes objects to attract or repel each other through electric force; it can be positive or negative.
   - Simple: The electricity that an object holds or carries.
   - _Electrons carry a negative charge._
   - _Lightning occurs when charge builds up inside storm clouds._
11. A sudden forceful rush forward, especially an attack in which soldiers or animals rush at an enemy.
   - Simple: A fast, strong run forward, often to attack.
   - _The infantry's charge broke the defenders' line within minutes._
   - _Lances lowered, the cavalry began their charge down the slope._
13. Someone or something placed in one's care, such as a child in a babysitter's keeping or a pupil under a teacher.
   - Simple: A person, especially a child, that someone is taking care of.
   - _The governess kept a close eye on her young charge during the voyage._
   - _The zookeeper spoke of his scaly charges with obvious affection._
16. A measured amount of explosive, such as powder loaded into a firearm or a device placed for blasting.
   - Simple: An amount of explosive put in a gun or set somewhere to blow up.
   - _Engineers set a small charge at the base of each support column._
   - _The avalanche crew detonated charges above the pass at dawn._
17. In basketball, an offensive foul committed when a player runs into a defender who has established a legal guarding position.
   - Simple: In basketball, a foul where the player with the ball runs into a defender who is standing still.
   - _The officials reviewed the replay to decide between a block and a charge._
   - _He drew his third charge of the game by planting his feet early._
21. An instruction or command given with authority, directing someone to carry out a duty.
   - Simple: An order or instruction that tells someone what they must do.
   - _The board issued a charge to the committee to review every contract._
   - _Her final charge to the graduates was to serve their communities._
22. A mortgage; a legal interest in property securing the payment of a debt.
   - Simple: A legal hold on a house or land that makes sure a loan gets paid back.
   - _The lender registered a charge against the property before releasing the funds._
   - _The title search revealed an old charge that had never been removed._
10. The quantity of electrical energy held in a battery or a device at a given moment.
   - Simple: How much electric power a battery or a device like a phone has stored in it.
   - _By the end of the hike, the GPS unit was down to five percent charge._
   - _Cold weather drains the charge from electric car batteries faster than most drivers expect._

## Other meanings

- (verb) To call someone to account, or to challenge them to justify their conduct or claims.
- (noun) A load or burden carried from one place to another, such as a ship's cargo.
- (noun) A figure or design that appears on an escutcheon, the shield bearing a coat of arms.
- (noun) The position of a weapon such as a lance or bayonet when held level and pointed forward, ready to attack.
- (noun) A medicated plaster or salve, as once used by farriers on horses.
- (noun) Importance, significance, or worth.
- (noun) An old unit of lead, made up of 36 pigs (cast bars) of about 70 pounds apiece.
- (noun) A formal speech by a bishop or archdeacon to the clergy at the close of an official visit to a diocese.
- (noun) Marijuana, as a drug.
- (verb) To sell goods for a stated sum.
- (verb) To load something with decoration or make it carry a feature, as when adding a moulding to part of a building.
- (verb) To adopt a design as part of one's coat of arms.
- (verb) In cricket, of a batter, to advance down the pitch as the bowler releases the ball, to upset its length or get closer for a shot.
- (verb) Of a hunting dog, to drop flat onto its belly and stay motionless, often on a hunter's command.

## Origin

Latin carrus ("a car, wagon") gave Late Latin carricō ("to load"), which became Old French chargier and then Middle English chargen. Cargo is a doublet.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/charge (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).