verb, charged, charg⋅ing, noun | 1. | to impose or ask as a price or fee: That store charges $25 for leather gloves. |
| 2. | to impose on or ask of (someone) a price or fee: He didn't charge me for it. |
| 3. | to defer payment for (a purchase) until a bill is rendered by the creditor: The store let me charge the coat. |
| 4. | to hold liable for payment; enter a debit against. |
| 5. | to attack by rushing violently against: The cavalry charged the enemy. |
| 6. | to accuse formally or explicitly (usually fol. by with): They charged him with theft. |
| 7. | to impute; ascribe the responsibility for: He charged the accident to his own carelessness. |
| 8. | to instruct authoritatively, as a judge does a jury. |
| 9. | to lay a command or injunction upon: He charged his secretary with the management of his correspondence. |
| 10. | to fill or furnish (a thing) with the quantity, as of powder or fuel, that it is fitted to receive: to charge a musket. |
| 11. | to supply with a quantity of electric charge or electrical energy: to charge a storage battery. |
| 12. | to change the net amount of positive or negative electric charge of (a particle, body, or system). |
| 13. | to suffuse, as with emotion: The air was charged with excitement. |
| 14. | to fill (air, water, etc.) with other matter in a state of diffusion or solution: The air was charged with pollen. |
| 15. | Metallurgy. to load (materials) into a furnace, converter, etc. |
| 16. | to load or burden (the mind, heart, etc.): His mind was charged with weighty matters. |
| 17. | to put a load or burden on or in. |
| 18. | to record the loan of, as books or other materials from a library (often fol. by out): The librarian will charge those books at the front desk. |
| 19. | to borrow, as books or other materials from a library (often fol. by out): How many magazines may I charge at one time? |
| 20. | Heraldry. to place charges on (an escutcheon). |
| 21. | to make an onset; rush, as to an attack. |
| 22. | to place the price of a thing to one's debit. |
| 23. | to require payment: to charge for a service. |
| 24. | to make a debit, as in an account. |
| 25. | (of dogs) to lie down at command. |
| 26. | expense or cost: improvements made at a tenant's own charge. |
| 27. | a fee or price charged: a charge of three dollars for admission. |
| 28. | a pecuniary burden, encumbrance, tax, or lien; cost; expense; liability to pay: After his death there were many charges on his estate. |
| 29. | an entry in an account of something due. |
| 30. | an impetuous onset or attack, as of soldiers. |
| 31. | a signal by bugle, drum, etc., for a military charge. |
| 32. | a duty or responsibility laid upon or entrusted to one. |
| 33. | care, custody, or superintendence: The child was placed in her nurse's charge. |
| 34. | anything or anybody committed to one's care or management: The nurse was careful to let no harm come to her charge. |
| 35. | Ecclesiastical. a parish or congregation committed to the spiritual care of a pastor. |
| 36. | a command or injunction; exhortation. |
| 37. | an accusation: He was arrested on a charge of theft. |
| 38. | Law. an address by a judge to a jury at the close of a trial, instructing it as to the legal points, the weight of evidence, etc., affecting the verdict in the case. |
| 39. | the quantity of anything that an apparatus is fitted to hold, or holds, at one time: a charge of coal for a furnace. |
| 40. | a quantity of explosive to be set off at one time. |
| 41. | Electricity.
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| 42. | Slang. a thrill; kick. |
| 43. | Rocketry. grains of a solid propellant, usually including an inhibitor. |
| 44. | a load or burden. |
| 45. | Heraldry. any distinctive mark upon an escutcheon, as an ordinary or device, not considered as belonging to the field; bearing. |
| 46. | charge off,
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| 47. | charge up, Informal.
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| 48. | in charge,
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| 49. | in charge of,
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| one of the basic properties of the elementary particles of matter giving rise to all electric and magnetic forces and interactions. The two kinds of charge are given negative and positive algebraic signs: measured in coulombs. |
charge (chärj) v. charged, charg·ing, charg·es v. tr.
[Middle English chargen, to load, from Old French chargier, from Late Latin carricāre, from Latin carrus, Gallic type of wagon, of Celtic origin; see kers- in Indo-European roots.] Synonyms: These verbs mean to cause to be filled with a particular mood or tone: an atmosphere charged with excitement; poetry imbued with lyricism; a spirit impregnated with lofty ideals; optimism that permeates a group; letters pervaded with gloom; a play saturated with imagination; a heart suffused with love. See Also Synonyms at care. |
charge
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charge (chärj) Pronunciation Key
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| electric charge
A form of charge, designated positive, negative, or zero, found on the elementary particles that make up all known matter. Particles with electric charge interact with each other through the electromagnetic force, creating electric fields, and when they are in motion, magnetic fields. The electric fields tend to result in a repulsive force between particles with charges of the same sign, and an attractive force between charges of opposite sign. The electron is defined to have an electric charge of -1; the protons in an atomic nucleus have charge of +1, and the neutrons have charge of 0. Our Living Language : Electric charge is a basic property of elementary particles of matter. The protons in an atom, for example, have a positive charge, the electrons have a negative charge, and the neutrons have zero charge. In an ordinary atom, the number of protons equals the number of electrons, so the atom normally has no net electric charge. An atom becomes negatively charged if it gains extra electrons, and it becomes positively charged if it loses electrons; atoms with net charge are called ions. Every charged particle is surrounded by an electric field, the area in which the charge exerts a force. Particles with nonzero electric charge interact with each other by exchanging photons, the carriers of the electromagnetic force. The strength and direction of the force charged particles exert on each other depends on the product of their charges: they attract each other if the product of their charges is negative and repel each other if the product is positive. Thus two electrons, each with charge -1, will repel each other, since -1 × -1 = +1, a positive number. Static electricity consists of charged particles at rest, while electric current consists of moving charged particles, especially electrons or ions. |