discharges

1. 1
   verb

   Third-person singular simple present of discharge.

   The river discharges into the estuary, carrying silt with it.

   The army discharges soldiers once they complete their term of service.

   Note

   Here the object does the defining. Someone who discharges a duty completes it, and one who discharges a debt settles it. A court that discharges an accused person clears them. A pipe discharges what it lets go, and a gunner discharges a missile. A singular subject comes first, which is how the verb is told apart from the plural noun that shares its spelling.

2. 2
   noun

   Plural of discharge.

   Industrial discharges remain a major source of pollution in the bay.

   The clinic recorded several discharges that afternoon, each with detailed follow-up notes.

   Note

   Every meaning of the noun can be counted or used as a mass noun, and the plural belongs to the counted uses: two hospital discharges, several discharges from the army, repeated discharges of a rifle. Used as a mass noun, as in discharge from a wound or the discharge of a load, it stays singular. The same spelling also serves as the verb's present-tense form. A number or determiner in front marks the noun.

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