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char

[chahr]

Origin

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verb (used with object)

to burn or reduce to charcoal: The fire charred the paper.

to burn slightly; scorch: The flame charred the steak.

verb (used without object)

to become charred.

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Char is one of our favorite verbs.

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to swindle, cheat, hoodwink, or hoax.

chat, to converse

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noun

a charred material or surface.

charcoal.

a superior carbon-rich fuel, a by-product of the conversion of coal into gaseous or liquid fuel.

Origin:
1670–80; apparently extracted from charcoal; see chark

Synonyms
2. singe, sear.

Dictionary.com Unabridged

noun, plural (especially collectively) char, (especially referring to two or more kinds or species) chars.

any trout of the genus Salvelinus (or Cristovomer), especially the Arctic char.

Origin:
1655–65; perhaps Old English *ceorra literally, turner, derivative of ceorran to turn, it being thought of as swimming to and fro time and again; see char³

noun

a charwoman.

a task, especially a household chore.

chars, odd jobs, especially of housework, for which one is paid by the hour or day.

verb (used without object)

to work at housecleaning by the day or hour; hire oneself out to do odd jobs.

verb (used with object)

to do (housework, odd jobs, or chores); clean or repair.

Also, chare.

Origin:
1375–1425; late Middle English, Old English cerr, cierr turn, time, occasion, affair, derivative of cierran to turn

noun British Informal.

tea.

Origin:
1915–20; < Hindi cā tea; for spelling with r compare arvo, parcheesi

noun

Re·né [ruh-ney] , 1907–1988, French poet.

character.

charter.

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
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Link To Char

Collins

World English Dictionary

char¹ (tʃɑː)

—vb , chars, charring, charred
1.	to burn or be burned partially, esp so as to blacken the surface; scorch
2.	(tr) to reduce (wood) to charcoal by partial combustion

[C17: short for charcoal]

char or charr² (tʃɑː)

—n , pl char, chars, charr, charrs
	any of various troutlike fishes of the genus Salvelinus, esp S. alpinus, occurring in cold lakes and northern seas: family Salmonidae (salmon)

[C17: of unknown origin]

charr or charr²

—n

[C17: of unknown origin]

char³ (tʃɑː)

—n
1.	informal short for charwoman

—vb , chars, charring, charred
2.	informal (Brit) to do housework, cleaning, etc, as a job

[C18: from Old English cerr]

char⁴ (tʃɑː)

—n
	(Brit) a slang word for tea

[from Chinese ch'a]

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
Cite This Source

Etymonline

Word Origin & History

char

1679, back-formation of charcoal (q.v.).

FOLDOC

Computing Dictionary

char definition

programming
/keir/ or /char/; rarely, /kar/ character. Especially used by C programmers, as "char" is C's typename for character data.
[Jargon File]
(1994-11-29)

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Charing Cross chariot charitable charity charry charwoman

Matching Quote

"Walden is melting apace. There is a canal two rods wide along the northerly and westerly sides, and wider still the east end. A great field of ice has cracked off from the main body. I hear a song sparrow singing from the bushes on the shore,—olit, olit, olit,—chip, chip, chip, che char,—che wiss, wiss, wiss. He too is helping to crack it. How handsome the great sweeping curves in the edge of the ice, answering somewhat to those of the shore, but more regular! It is unusually hard, owing to the recent severe but transient cold, and all watered or waved like a palace floor. But the wind slides eastward over its opaque surface in vain, till it reaches the living surface beyond. It is glorious to behold this ribbon of water sparkling in the sun, the bare face of the pond full of glee and youth, as if it spoke the joy of the fishes within it, and of the sands on its shore,—a silvery sheen as from the scales of a leuciscus, as it were all one active fish. Such is the contrast between winter and spring. Walden is dead and is alive again. But this spring it broke up more steadily, as I have said."

-Henry David Thoreau

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