# charter

Pronunciation: US say "CHAR-tur" /ˈt͡ʃɑɹtɚ/; UK say "CHAR-tuh" /ˈt͡ʃɑːtə/

## Noun

1. A formal document issued by an authority that creates a public or private institution and defines its purposes and privileges.
   - Simple: An official paper that sets up an organization and says what it is allowed to do.
   - _The university was founded under a royal charter granted in 1209._
   - _Delegates met to revise the city's charter and expand the council's powers._
2. A document issued by an authority that confers rights and privileges on a person, corporation, or other body.
   - Simple: An official paper that gives special rights to a person or company.
   - _The colony's founders obtained a charter from the Crown granting trading rights._
   - _Federal regulators approved the company's banking charter last spring._
4. The temporary hiring or leasing of a vehicle such as a bus, boat, or aircraft.
   - Simple: The renting of a vehicle, such as a bus or boat, for a short time.
   - _The team arranged a charter to fly directly to the tournament._
   - _Private charters of the yacht cost several thousand dollars a day._
6. A business contract to hire a ship, or space aboard one.
   - Simple: A business agreement to rent a ship, or space on a ship, for a time.
   - _The shipping line negotiated a six-month charter for the tanker._
   - _Under the charter, the exporter controls two hundred container slots on each voyage._
8. A special privilege, immunity, or exemption enjoyed by a person or group.
   - Simple: A special right or freedom to do something.
   - _Wealth is not a charter to ignore the law._
   - _Her long friendship with the family gave her a charter to speak plainly._
9. A deed; a formal written document that records a legal contract.
   - Simple: An official written paper that records a legal agreement.
   - _The abbey's records include a charter conveying three fields to the monks._
   - _Historians used the wax seal to date the charter recording the manor's sale._
10. A law or provision that would unintentionally give free rein to some undesirable activity. *(UK)*
   - Simple: A rule that ends up making a bad activity easier, even though nobody planned that.
   - _Opponents branded the surveillance bill a snoopers' charter._
   - _MPs warned that the loophole would become a tax dodgers' charter._

## Verb

3. To lease or hire something, such as a ship, bus, or aircraft, by charter.
   - Simple: To rent a vehicle, such as a bus, boat, or plane.
   - _Investors can charter the yacht by the week during summer._
   - _The band chartered a jet for the overseas tour._
5. To grant a charter to, or to establish by means of a charter.
   - Simple: To set up or approve an organization by giving it an official paper.
   - _The legislature voted to charter a new state university._
   - _Congress chartered the bank in 1791 over fierce opposition._
11. Of a peace officer: to inform an arrested person of their rights under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms at the time of arrest. *(Canada)*
   - Simple: To tell a person being arrested about their legal rights, as police in Canada must do.
   - _Officers are trained to charter detainees immediately upon arrest._
   - _The constable chartered the suspect before placing him in the cruiser._

## Adjective

7. Leased or hired for temporary use.
   - Simple: Rented or hired, like a bus or plane that a group pays to use.
   - _A charter plane flew the band between festival stops._
   - _Local captains offer charter fishing trips from the harbor._

## Origin

From Middle English charter or chartre, borrowed from Old French chartre, from Latin chartula, the diminutive of charta. It is related to chart and is a doublet of chartula.

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