Forms: 1 cierr, cirr, cerr, cyrr, 2–4 cherre, 3 chærre, chearre, 3–4 chere, 4–5 charre, 6–7 chair, (7 chaer, chewre, charr), 5– chare, 3– char; see also the variant CHORE. [OE. cęrr, cięrr, cyrr, masc. i- stem:—OTeut. type *karri-z or *karzi-z: cf. CHARE v.1
(Often identified with OHG. chêr, MHG. kêr, Ger. kehr, MDu. kêr, Du. keer, masc.; besides which there is OHG. chêra, MHG. kêre, Ger. kehre, MDu. and MLG. kêre, LG. kêr str. fem.; but these represent OTeut. types *kairi-z -oz or kaizi-z, oz, and *kairâ or *kaizâ, the vowel of which has no connection with that of the OE. word. No forms cognate to either are known outside Teutonic.)
In modern English the ordinary form of the word from the 13th c. onwards was char: but sense 5 is now usually chare; char, chore, chewre, are dialectal; chore also in U.S. On the other hand the compound, which in the 17th and 18th c. was so commonly charewoman, chairwoman, is now CHARWOMAN.]
I. Obsolete senses: usually cher, char.
† 1. The return or coming round again of a time; hence gen. turn, occasion, time. Obs.
(The literal sense 2 is not cited in OE.)
c. 1000. Ags. Gosp., Luke xxii. 32. Æt sumum cyrre [Lindisf. hwile ʓicerred] ʓewend andtryme þine ʓebroðru.
c. 1000. Ælfric, Gen. xxxviii. 18. Æt þam cyrre heo wearð mid cilde.
c. 1000. Sax. Leechd., I. 214. Ærest þry … æt þam feorþan cyrre niʓon.
c. 1205. Lay., 6844. Makeden hine þridde chærre king.
c. 1230. Hali Meid., 23. At an chere.
c. 1320. Sir Beues, 3461. Allas! that ilche cherre Hii wente fro hire alto ferre.
† 2. A turning or movement back, return, retreat; fig. (in after-char, again-char) repentance. Obs.
c. 1220. Bestiary, 643. Ðanne he makeð ðer-to char.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 21922. Qua-sum be-for will noght be-warr, He sal find þan nan efter-char.
c. 1300. in Wright, Lyric P., xiv. 46. To late cometh the ȝeyn-char.
c. 1450. Lonelich, Graal, lii. 617. So sore to-gederis they mette … there was non geyn char.
† b. On char: on the turn, in the act of shutting; AJAR.
1500–20. Dunbar, Done is a battell, &c. 11. The auld kene tegir, with his teeth on char.
a. 1510. Douglas, K. Hart, xlvi. The dure on chare it stude. Ibid. (1513), Æneis, III. vi. 177. Quhill percace The pipand wynd blaw up the dur on char.
† 3. A turn or movement generally. Obs.
c. 1325. Body & Soul, 157 (Mätz.). Bote as tou bere me aboute, ne miȝt I do the leste char.
c. 1340. Cursor M., 5172 (Trin.). [Abraham] drowȝe his swerde priuely Þat þe childe were nat war Ar he had done þat char.
† 4. A turn or stroke of work; an action, deed; a piece of work or business. Obs.
c. 897. K. Ælfred, Gregory’s Past., iv. 36. Menn þe bið abisʓod … mid oðrum cierrum [v.r. cirrum].
c. 1175. Lamb. Hom., 137. Sulche monne þe him deð … wiken and cherres.
c. 1330. R. Brunne, Chron. Wace (Rolls), 8801. Sleyght & connyng doþ many a chare.
c. 1450. Bk. Curtasye, 96, in Babees Bk. (1868), 302. While þou holdes mete in mouthe, be war To drynke, þat is vnhonest char.
1570. [see CHARE v.1 4].
1602. Warner, Alb. Eng., XII. lxxiv. (1612), 306. This Chaer thus chaerd … returnes he backe.
c. 1622. Fletcher, Love’s Cure, III. ii. Here’s two chewres chewr’d.
1680. News fr. Country, in Roxb. Ball. (1881), IV. 201. How pure a Charr had it been then, they not one, to ten times Ten.
II. Extant sense: now usually chare.
5. esp. An occasional turn of work, an odd job, esp. of household work; hence in pl. the household work of a domestic servant. (The regular phrase in U.S., where the word has the form CHORE, q.v.).
c. 1325. Pol. Songs, 341. Unnethe wolde eny don a char.
c. 1410. Love, Bonavent. Mirr., xiii. 32 (Gibbs MS.). Makyng þe beddes and suche oþer chares.
1606. Shaks., Ant. & Cl., IV. xv. 75. The Maid that Milkes, And doe’s the meanest chares.
1608–11. Bp. Hall, Medit. & Vows, III. (1614), 74. Many weare Gods cloth … that never did good chare in his service.
1679. Hist. Jetzer, 2. Cleft out Wood, carryed Stones, and did other odd Chairs.
1832–4. De Quincey, Cæsars, Wks. IX. 69. The peasant who does the humblest chares.
1866. Daily Tel., 30 Jan., 5/2. The mother will be grey, and ‘past chares.’
1881. Miss Braddon, Asphodel, III. 321. Not less monotonous than the humblest chars.
1881. Huxley, Sci. & Culture, ii. 34. Mere handicrafts and chares.
6. Comb., in sense 5, as chare-work; also char-folk, -parson on analogy of CHARWOMAN, q.v.
1662. Fuller, Worthies (1840), II. 116. Who, instead of their own servants, use *Chair-folk in their houses.
1881. Goldw. Smith, Cowper, ii. 24. A *char-parson … who walked sixteen miles every Sunday to serve two churches.
1613. Heywood, Brazen Age, II. ii. Wks. 1874, III. 240. Woman … spinnes, Cards, and doth *chare-worke.
