Forms: 3– charge; also 4 cherge, scharge, 5 charg, 6– Sc. chairge. [a. OF. charge-r, -ier, 11th c. in Littré (= ONF. carguer, cargier, Pr. cargar, Sp., Pg. cargar, It. caricare):—L. carricāre (in Jerome) to load, f. carr-us car, wagon: cf. commūnicāre to share in common, caballicāre to ride, etc.
(Several forms resulted in Romanic from the L. type carricāre. When the original vb. in sense ‘load’ was syncopated at an early period to carcāre (cf. It. caricare, carcare), this gave OF. karkier, charchier (cf. L. caballus horse, caballicāre, cabalcāre to ride, F. chevaucher); thence ME. CARK and CHARCHE. Otherwise, carricāre became carrigāre, and was then syncopated to cargare, OF. carguier, chargier, Eng. CHARGE. After these changes had taken place, and the original verb had become Romanic carcare, cargare, a new carricare was formed in the sense ‘to convey in a car,’ ‘to cart,’ and this gave OF. careyer, carier, charier (cf. manus hand, manicāre, to handle, F. manier); thence Eng. CARRY.)]
I. To load; to cause to bear, hold or receive.
(To charge is, in sense, causal of to bear; hence in the passive charged with is equivalent to ‘bearing,’ ‘taking’ or ‘receiving’ what it can bear or hold.)
† 1. trans. To place a load on or in; to load (e.g., a vehicle, ship, beast of burden, etc.). Also, in passive; charged with: laden with, bearing. Obs. exc. as merged in other senses.
1297. R. Glouc. (1724), 13. Me chargede þre hondret schippes … Þer wyþ.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 8253. It was so cherged [v.r. charged, karkid, karked] ilk a bogh.
c. 1380. Sir Ferumb., 3136. Two & þyrty grete somers y-charged alle & some Wyþ fair flour.
c. 1386. Chaucer, Merch. T., 967. A tre, That charged was with fruyt.
c. 1440. Promp. Parv., 69. Chargyn wythe byrdenys, onero.
1513. Douglas, Æneis, XI. i. 114. Mak prayer and offerandis Chargeand the altaris oft with his awin hands.
c. 1534. trans. Pol. Verg. Eng. Hist. (1846), I. 57. Cæsar, charging his shippes with a great number of captives.
1634. Sir T. Herbert, Trav., 191. Her head, armes, necke, nose, eares, legs and toes, each charged with Amulets and Bracelets of siluer.
1712. trans. Pomet’s Hist. Drugs, I. 37. Branches, charg’d with Leaves.
1853. Arab. Nts. (Rtldg.), 633. Ten mules charged with large hampers.
1854. Abbott, Napoleon (1855), II. xxxv. 655. The frigate charged with the mortal remains of Napoleon.
† b. transf. To load with blows. Obs.
1596. Nashe, Saffron Walden, 33. All those … blowes wherewith you haue charged me.
† 2. To lay or place (goods, etc.) as a load upon; to lade. Obs.
c. 1532. Ld. Berners, Huon, 423. All .iii. … chargyd in theyr neckes mete ynowe & brought it to the shyp.
1539. Act 31 Hen. VIII., c. 4. There to charge and discharge the sayde goodes.
1601. Holland, Pliny, I. 133. They must charge and discharge their wares.
fig. 1665–9. Boyle, Occas. Refl., II. xv. To charge no more upon a Day than the trouble that belongs to it.
† 3. To carry as a load or lading. Obs. rare.
c. 1450. Merlin, 57. Merlin hem shewde the stones that were grete and longe…. They … seide it was a thynge unpossible to charge, they were of soche gretnesse and wight.
1660. Burney, Κέρδ. Δῶρον (1661), 98. Fear not man … thou charges Cæsar and his Fortune.
4. To put in or on (a thing) what it can bear or is adapted to receive; to cause to take or receive to the extent of its capacity or requirements; to furnish with its full complement; to fill (e.g., a vessel with liquor, etc.).
In some modern phrases probably transf. from 5.
a. 1225. Ancr. R., 204. Hit is iueððred [as an arrow]; þet is, icharged.
1577. Northbrooke, Dicing (1843), 58. A distaffe charged with flaxe.
1674. Ray, Iron Work, 126. The Furnace which is before charged with coles.
a. 1763. Shenstone, Wks. (1764), I. 286. The trembling tears that charge thy melting eyes.
1785. Cowper, Task, VI. 570. Creeping vermin … charged perhaps with venom.
1799. G. Smith, Laborat., I. 9. When you charge your rocket.
1823. J. Badcock, Dom. Amusem., 20. Charging the cylinders with dry split wood.
1855. Bain, Senses & Int., II. iv. § 26. An organ with bellows constantly charged.
1878. Huxley, Physiogr., 24. The water with which the rock is charged.
1884. Browning, Ferishtah (ed. 3), 134. The slave who charged thy pipe.
b. Construction transposed as in 2.
1882. Engineer, 24 Feb., 133/1. These bars are cut to lengths and charged into a suitable furnace.
5. spec. To put into (a fire-arm) the proper charge of powder and ball; to ‘load.’
1541. Act 33 Hen. VIII., c. 6. No person … shal cary … any crosse bowe bent, or gun charged or furnished with pouder fire or touch for the same.
1595. Shaks., John, II. i. 382. Their battering Canon charged to the mouthes.
1669. Sturmy, Mariner’s Mag., II. V. xii. § 45. When any Piece of Ordnance is Charged with such a Shot as will not be driven home unto the Powder. Ibid., II. V. xiii. § 4. How Granadoes are to be charged in a Mortar, and Fired.
1670. Nye, Gunnery, 39. He should know how to charge and discharge Gunner like.
1709. Steele, Tatler, No. 82, ¶ 8. Did you charge these Pistols?
1803. Rees, Cycl., s.v., Engineers have contrived a sort of cannons which are charged by the breech.
fig. 1588. Shaks., L. L. L., V. ii. 88. What are they, That charge their breath against us?
6. Her. To place a bearing on (an escutcheon or another bearing). Charged with: bearing.
1572. Bossewell, Armorie, 12. A ‘Gartiere’ … maye not bee charged, but with floures or leaues.
1605. Camden, Rem. (1637), 210. Charged with a Mullet of sixe poynts.
1808. Scott, Marm., VI. xxxviii. He … charged his old paternal shield With bearings won on Flodden Field.
1882. N. & Q., 25 March, 230. John, his younger brother, should charge his ancestor’s crescent with another for himself.
transf. 1705. Addison, Italy (1721), 126 (J.). It is a pity the Obelisks in Rome had not been charged with several parts of the Egyptian histories instead of heirogliphics. Ibid. (a. 1719), Medals, i. 19. Nor are they [coins] only charged with Things but with many ancient Customs.
7. To fill (any substance) with other matter, diffused or distributed throughout it (e.g., the air with vapor, water with mineral substances, etc.). Usually in pa. pple. charged with: containing or full of (the matter specified) in a state of diffusion or solution.
[1601. Holland, Pliny, I. 106. The river Glaucus, charged with the river of Telmessus.]
1756. C. Lucas, Ess. Waters, I. 82. The hard waters are such as are charged with some terrene or stony or metallic matter.
1833. Lyell, Princ. Geol., III. 371. A black argillaceous limestone, charged with belemnites.
1854. Brewster, More Worlds, v. 103. The air may be charged … with aqueous vapour.
1869. E. A. Parkes, Pract. Hygiene (ed. 3), 79. Water highly charged with calcium carbonate.
1885. Manch. Exam., 5 June, 5/2. Old workings charged with foul gas. (Cf. 4.)
b. Electr. To cause to receive (electricity); to accumulate a quantity of electricity capable of being again discharged in (a Leyden jar, or any electrified body, or an ‘accumulator’).
1748. Franklin, Lett., Wks. 1840, V. 199. The bottle being thereby discharged, the man would be charged. Ibid. (1750), 243. How does the phial become charged (as we term it)?
1869. Phillips, Vesuvius, iii. 48. The moving clouds were highly charged with electricity.
1881. Sir W. Thomson, in Nature, No. 619. 434. One of the twenty kilogramme cells charged … and left with its 60 candle-hours’ capacity.
8. fig. To fill, furnish fully, render replete. Usually in pa. pple. charged with: = bearing.
1581. Mulcaster, Positions, xxxviii. (1887), 175. Their braines be not so much charged, neither with weight nor with multitude of matters.
a. 1680. Butler, Rem. (1759), II. 61. The harder he charges his Head with Politics, the more it recoils and is nearer cracking.
1849. Ruskin, Sev. Lamps, i. § 15. 26. Fair fronts of variegated mosaic, charged with wild fancies.
1850. Mrs. Browning, Vis. Poets, I. 246. Soft accents clear Charged with high meanings.
1863. Geo. Eliot, Romola (1880), I. Introd. 3. A face charged with memories of a keen and various life.
1877. ‘H. A. Page,’ De Quincey, I. xi. 205. The stores of fact … with which his memory was charged.
II. To load heavily; to burden, put anything onerous, troublesome, hateful upon.
† 9. To lay too heavy a load upon; to overload, burden. Obs.
1398. Trevisa, Barth. De P. R., XVIII. cliv. (1495), 705. A voyde thynge of codware … and chargyth more than it fedith.
1481. Caxton, Myrr., II. x. 89. The clustres of grapes ben so grete … that the men ben gretly charged to bere one of them only vpon a colestaff.
1658. A. Fox, trans. Würtz’ Surg., I. iii. 11. Charge not the wound with too much stitching.
1671. trans. Frejus’ Voy. Mauritania, 33. I drank five or six Cups of this admirable water, with which I felt my Stomach no more charged than if I had drank but one, so light is it and good.
1693. Locke, Educ., 63 (J.). A Fault in the ordinary Method of Education; and that is, The Charging of Children’s Memories, upon all Occasions, with Rules and Precepts.
b. Painting and Decorative Art. To overload.
1762–71. H. Walpole, Vertue’s Anecd. Paint. (1786), II. 182. His shades not charged, but helped by varnish.
1784. J. Barry, Lect. Art, iii. 133. Nothing is unskilfully charged for the purpose of obtaining grandeur.
† 10. To press hard; in pass. to be hard pressed.
1375. Barbour, Bruce, XIII. 317. And thai with speris swa him met … That he and horss … war chargit swa That bath doune to the erd can ga.
1568. Grafton, Chron., II. 281. The Frenche king understanding well that his men in Calyce were charged sore.
† 11. fig. To burden with sin, guilt, care, sickness, etc. Obs.
c. 1308. Pol. Songs, 195. Men that … Mest i-charged beth with sinne.
a. 1340. Hampole, Pr. Consc., 7953. Þai salle be swa hevy charged with syn.
c. 1340. Cursor M., 24233 (Fairf.). Þou charge þe [earlier MSS. cark þe] noȝt sa fast wiþ care.
1485. Caxton, Paris & V., 31. A lytel charged in my conscyence.
1523. Ld. Berners, Froiss., I. xx. 28. Kyng Robert of Scotland … was greatly charged with the great sickenes.
1633. G. Herbert, Temple, 25, Sacrifice. Lo, here I hang, charg’d with a world of sinne.
† 12. To burden with expense, tribute, exactions, etc.; to put to expense; to be burdensome to. Obs. (Cf. 17, 18.)
c. 1330. R. Brunne, Chron. (1810), 54. Hardeknout did charge þe lond in suilk treuwage, Þat noiþer erle no barone myght lyue for taliage.
1375. Barbour, Bruce, IV. 344. The pouir folk of this cuntre Ar chargit … Of vs, that ydill lyis her.
1484–5. Caxton, Curial, 4. They knowe not of what dyspence they ben charged for to nourysshe them.
1596. Danett, trans. Comines, 225. He had more charged his people than euer had any of his predecessors.
1598. Shaks., Merry W., II. ii. 171. Good Sir Iohn, I sue for yours: not to charge you, for I must let you vnderstand, I thinke my selfe in better plight for a Lender, then you are.
1611. Bible, 1 Tim. v. 16. Let not the Church be charged.
1647. Clarendon, Hist. Reb., IV. (1702), I. 250. Charging the Kingdom by Billetting of Soldiers.
13. To impose a duty, task or responsibility upon; to burden, entrust, commission with (of, obs.).
c. 1300. Beket, 836. And thu afonge the bischopriche … That thu of non other thing ne scholdest icharged beo.
c. 1320. Seuyn Sages (W.), 305. He scharged hem with his message.
c. 1489. Caxton, Sonnes of Aymon, 9. I shal tel him al alonge all that ye have charged me of.
c. 1550. Cheke, Matt. iv. 6. He hath charged his angels with yow.
1605. Shaks., Lear, V. iii. 163. What you haue charg’d me with, that haue I done.
1651. Hobbes, Leviath., II. xxxi. 193. Soveraigns … need not be charged with the Sciences Mathematicall.
1877. Brockett, Cross & Cresc., 482. He was … charged with the supervision of all the military schools.
1881. J. C. Shairp, in Academy, 1 Feb., 111. A few poets … who are charged with some old truth to revive.
† b. ellipt. To commission, put in charge (or office). Obs. Cf. discharge.
c. 1400. Destr. Troy, 7202. He chargyt was for no cheftain, ne chosyn by hym. Ibid., 8944. Sum clene prinse … To be charget as cheftain.
1532. Hervet, trans. Xenophon’s Househ. (1768), 13. Is there euer any other wyse man that ye trust and charge soo moche in your busines, as ye doo your wyfe.
1568. Grafton, Chron., II. 167. Then was he discharged, and Sir John Breton knight charged for the rest of the yere.
c. refl. To charge oneself with: to take upon oneself the charge or responsibility of.
1727. Arbuthnot, Tables Anc. Coins, etc. 273 (J.). He was so great an Encourager of Commerce, that he charged himself with all the Sea-risque of such Vessels as carried Corn to Rome in the Winter time: [etc.].
1788. Ld. Auckland, Corr. (1861), II. 89. The Venetian Ambassador has charged himself with my visitors.
14. To lay a command or injunction upon; to command, order, enjoin; to exhort authoritatively; to give charge. Const. with inf., or with clause introduced by that; also simply (sometimes followed by the exact words of the command).
c. 1325. E. E. Allit. P., B. 464. How þe cheuetayn hym charged þat þe kyst ȝemed.
1303. R. Brunne, Handl. Synne, 1421. Whan he was chargede þe soþe to seye.
c. 1385. Chaucer, L. G. W., 940. Enyas was chargit by Venus To fleen a-wey.
1393. Gower, Conf., III. 218. And chargeth hem, that they ne flee.
14[?]. Epiph. (Tundale’s Vis., 107). He charged hem … Homward by hym they schuld repeyre.
1480. Caxton, Chron. Eng., ccxlii. 277. They … charged hym to lye still.
1535. Coverdale, 1 Kings xxii. 16. I charge ye that thou saye no other thinge vnto me but the trueth, in the name of ye Lorde.
1594. Marlowe, Dido, I. i. Charge him from me to turn his stormy powers.
1601. Shaks., Twel. N., IV. i. 49. Hold Toby, on thy life I charge thee, hold.
1667. Milton, P. L., X. 200. I charg’d thee, saying: Thou shalt not eate thereof.
1775. Sheridan, St. Patr. Day, II. ii. Papa charged you to keep close to me.
1808. Scott, Marm., V. vii. He had charged, that his array Should southward march by break of day.
1867. Mrs. H. Wood, Orville Coll., I. iii. 69. I have strictly charged them, on their honour, not to speak of this.
† b. To charge to an answer, etc. Obs.
1595. Shaks., John, III. i. 151. Thou canst not (Cardinall) deuise a name So slight … To charge me to an answere, as the Pope. Ibid. (1596), Merch. V., V. i. 298. Charge vs there vpon intergatories, And we will answer all things faithfully.
c. To deliver an official or formal instruction or exhortation to (as a judge to the jury, a bishop to his clergy, etc.). Also absol. to deliver a ‘charge.’ Cf. CHARGE sb. 15 b.
1618. Pulton, Statutes, 172 (Act 28 Edw. III., IX. marg.). No writ shal be directed to the Sheriffe to charge a Jury to indict any.
1856. Daily Picayune, 14 Oct., 1/6 (Bartlett). ‘Well,’ said the lawyer, ‘did the judge charge you?’
1870. Western Morning News, 20 May, 3/7. The Bishop of Bath and Wells charged the clergy of his diocese at Castle Carey, yesterday.
1882. Morning Post, 20 April, 6/4. The Lord Chief Justice then proceeded to charge the jury.
absol. 1864. J. H. Newman, Apol., 244. The Bishops one after another began to charge against me.
15. To lay blame upon, blame, censure; to bring an accusation against, accuse.
138[?]. Wyclif, Sel. Wks., III. 344. Þei chargen hemsilf as ypocritis.
a. 1450. Knt. de la Tour (1868), 61. She wende to have lytelyd her synne, to have charged an other.
1586. J. Hooker, Girald. Hist. Irel., in Holinshed, II. 21/2. The king … charged him verie deepelie and sharplie for his rash and hastie adventures.
1611. Bible, Job i. 22. In all this Iob sinned not, nor charged God foolishly.
1687. Abp. Wake, Prep. for Death, 55 (L.). I am so far from charging you as guilty in this matter, that [etc.].
1721. St. German’s Doctor & Stud., 284. For trespass of Battery … the master shall not be charged for his servant, unless he did it by his commandment.
1818. Cruise, Digest, I. 267. The husband shall be charged in an action of waste.
b. Usual const. To charge (a person) with (a fault, crime, etc.): = to accuse of.
1559. Mirr. Mag., Dk. Clarence, l. 7. To charge me with offence.
1596. Shaks., 1 Hen. IV., III. iii. 175. Charge an honest Woman with picking thy pocket?
1672. Dryden, Conq. Granada, I. IV. ii. In charging your Unkindness with my Death.
1749. Fielding, Tom Jones, IV. xi. Thwackum, who was immediately charged by Mr. Blifil with the story.
1833. Ht. Martineau, Three Ages, iii. 96. Two labourers … were charged with creating a disturbance.
† c. Former constructions. Obs.
1568. Grafton, Chron., II. 87. The French Chronicle chargeth king Richard to be in great fault.
1579. Fulke, Heskins’ Parl., 475. Oecolampadius, who iustly chargeth the Papistes of wilfull ignorance.
1605. Camden, Rem. (1637), 271. Charged before King Henry the seventh for burning the Metropolitane Church of Cassiles in Ireland.
1681. Dryden, Abs. & Achit., Introd. To charge me for not subscribing of my name.
1709. Strype, Ann. Ref., I. v. 91. The Bishops charged the Protestants to have been the propounders of the questions.
1756. Johnson, K. of Prussia, Wks. IV. 550. [He] charges the English that they still retain it.
16. To charge (a fault, etc.) a. on, upon, † against (a person): to lay it to his charge, impute as a fault.
1611. Speed, Hist. Gt. Brit., IX. xvi. (1632), 814/1. The poynts of his speeches were as that fellow charged vpon him in open Parliament.
1685. Baxter, Paraphr. N. T., Matt. v. 11. To have all manner of evil charged on you, and reported of you falsly.
1693. Dryden, Persius, iii. 30 (J.).
| No more accuse thy Pen; but charge the Crime | |
| On Native Sloth, and negligence of time. |
1738. Wesley, Psalms (1765), No. 13. vii. Will they not charge my Fall on Thee!
1786. Trials J. Shepherd, 46. I am perfectly innocent of the robbery charged against me.
1855. Prescott, Philip II., I. (1857), 13. The blame should rather be charged on Philip’s ministers than on Philip.
1875. Jowett, Plato (ed. 2), III. 333. The inconsistency which is charged upon us.
† b. To impute or ascribe to. Obs.
1737. Swift, Lett., 22 May. I hear it [a certain poem] is charged to me.
c. To bring as an accusation; to state or assert in an indictment, to make a count in an indictment; to make the charge (that).
1785. Burke, Corr. (1844), III. 38. We ought to be very careful not to charge what we are unable to prove.
1862. J. F. Stephen, Defence Williams, x. The second Count charged that Dr. Williams was Vicar of Broad Chalke. Ibid., xi. The fourth Count charged a publication in the Diocese of Salisbury.
1879. The Localist, 8 May, 1/7. It has been charged that Coleridge appropriated the ideas of Lessing.
Mod. Newspr. (U.S.) Some months ago a ‘Mason,’ so it was charged, poisoned the archbishop of Quito.
17. To subject or make liable (a person, estate, etc.) to a pecuniary obligation or liability. Const. with the liability; formerly to.
a. 1626. Bacon, Use Com. Law, 29. That heire … shall be charged of his owne lands or goods … for this deed of his ancestor.
1642. Perkins, Prof. Bk., i. § 1 (1642), 1. What things a man may grant or charge.
1712. Prideaux, Direct. Ch.-Wardens (ed. 4), 50. They [certain lands] … must be charged equally with them [the Parish] to all the Burdens of it.
1815. Scott, Guy M., ii. He was … charged to make payment of the expenses of a long lawsuit.
1818. Cruise, Digest, II. 185. H. Lawson … charged all his personal estate, with the payment of his debts.
1845. McCulloch, Taxation, I. iv. (1852), 138. The incomes of those charged … in schedules D and E.
1853. Lytton, My Novel, II. xxv. If the Count pay the debts, and the lady’s fortune be only charged with your own.
18. To charge (a sum or price):
a. To impose as a liability or pecuniary charge (on an estate or income).
1818. Cruise, Digest, VI. 340. The debts were not … charged upon the real estate.
1845. McCulloch, Taxation, I. iv. (1852), 135. Whether it [the tax] should be charged indifferently on all incomes.
1874. Act 37 & 38 Vict., c. 3 § 9. Moneys to be charged on the revenues of India.
b. To impose, claim, demand, or state as the price or sum due for anything.
1787. ‘G. Gambado,’ Acad. Horsem. (1809), 46. I myself saw 3s. charged in his bill for wine.
1872. Black, Adv. Phaeton, II. xxviii. 243. Do you think we ought to charge twopence this time?
1883. G. Lloyd, Ebb & Flow, II. 115. [The price] she charged for her eggs.
Mod. How much do you charge for these?
c. absol. To make a (pecuniary) charge.
a. 1843. Southey, Devil’s Walk, 46. If he charges at this rate for all things.
1867. Mrs. H. Wood, Orville Coll., I. ix. 206–7. I could not charge…. Please say no more about payment.
d. With double object (combining 17 and 18): To charge a person a certain sum (for a service or thing sold).
1850. Kingsley, Alt. Locke, x. (1876), 109. Charging his customers too … high prices.
1875. Jevons, Money (1878), 113. If every depositor of a pound were liable to be charged 2 per cent. for lightness.
Mod. He charged me a shilling for the operation. They were charged five shillings a head for dinner.
19. To charge (a thing sold or offered for sale):
a. To lay the liability of payment for (a thing) on a person; to put as a charge to or against (his account).
Mod. To whom are the cigars to be charged? Charge these to my account (or against me).
b. To put a price on; to rate.
Mod. He charges coal at 8d. a cwt. (= He charges 8d. … for coal; cf. 18 b).
III. To attach weight to. [A transference of the notion of load.]
† 20. To attach weight or importance to; to care for, regard, reck. With negative, To make no account of, set at nought. Obs.
a. trans. (or with obj. clause.)
c. 1320. R. Brunne, Medit., 470. Þat he nat chargeþ hym self to spyl.
138[?]. Wyclif, Sel. Wks., III. 350. For þei chargen more þer owne statute … þan þei done þe lawe of þe gospel.
1388. Wyclif, Gen. xxv. 34. Esau … chargide litil that he hadde seld the riȝt of the firste gendrid child.
c. 1440. Promp. Parv., 69. Chargyn or gretely sett a thynge to herte, penso.
c. 1449. Pecock, Repr., 445. Nile thou [Timothy] litil charge the grace which is in thee.
1563–87. Foxe, A. & M. (1684), I. 456/1. They chargen more mens traditions than thy commandment.
† b. intr. Const. of. Obs.
1388. Wyclif, Matt. xxii. 16. Thou chargist not of ony man.
c. 1400. Promp. Parv., 70. Chargyn, rekkyn or yeve tale, curo.
c. 1500. Lancelot, 2453. He chargit not bot of encress and fame.
† c. To be not (nought) to charge: to be of no importance, to matter not. Obs.
138[?]. Wyclif, Sel. Wks., III. 352. Dette is not to charge but ȝif it turne to goostli help.
c. 1440. York Myst., xx. 120. Childre wordis are noȝt to charge.
1488. Caxton, Chast. Goddes Chyld., 12. A thyng that nought is to charge or lityl.
IV. To attack impetuously: and senses leading up to it.
[Sense 21 may be connected with 4 or 5, but the links are not clear; perhaps 21 b is the earlier, and connected with 14. Sense 22 is also in French, but Littré gives no clue to its origin. Cf. the sb. senses 17, 18.]
21. To place (a weapon) in position for action; to ‘level,’ direct the aim of. (In charge bayonets! it appears to have passed into sense 22.)
1509. Hawes, Past. Pleas., XXXIII. xv. My spere I charged … and to this giaunt I toke my course. Ibid. (1845), 193. As I gan my grete stroke to charge.
1599. Shaks., Much Ado, V. i. 136. I shall meete your wit in the careere, and you charge it against me.
1603. Knolles, Hist. Turks (J.). He rode up and down gallantly mounted, and charged and discharged his lance.
1623. Bingham, Xenophon, 116. But when … they … gaue a shout, and charged their pikes, the enemy forsooke the place and fled.
1724. De Foe, Mem. Cavalier. Several bodies of the enemy’s foot … stood with their pikes charged to keep us off.
1727. A. Hamilton, New Acc. E. Ind., II. liii. 266. With a charged Trident in his right Hand, ready to throw at Offenders.
1853. Stocqueler, Mil. Encycl., s.v., Charge bayonets! a word of command given to infantry to advance on the enemy with bayonets fixed.
transf. 1824. Scott, Redgauntlet, II. 135. Peter blundered into the middle of the apartment, with his head charged like a ram’s head in the act of butting.
† b. To spur on (a war-horse) to full speed. † c. To direct and aim (a blow or stroke). Obs.
c. 1500. Lancelot, 3398. His horss than can [= gan] he with his spuris charg … And in the thikest of the press is gon.
1509. Hawes, Past. Pleas. (1845), 193. Thy grete stroke to charge.
22. To rush against or upon, with all one’s force, in a hostile way; to spur one’s horse against at full gallop; to bear down upon, make a violent onset on, attack or assail with impetuosity. Esp. in military use; also said of a powerful animal rushing at any opponent, of players at football, etc.
1582. Stanyhurst, Æneis, II. (Arb.), 45. With his chaapt staf speedelye running Strong the steed [the Trojan horse] he chargeth.
1593. Shaks., 3 Hen. VI., I. i. 8. Lord Clifford and Lord Stafford all a-brest Charg’d our maine Battailes Front. Ibid. (1605), Lear, II. i. 53. With his prepared Sword, he charges home My vnprouided body, latch’d mine arme.
1664. in 10th Rep. Comm. Hist. MSS., App. IV. 69. Col. Ludlowe with a regiment of Wilshire horse … did charge and route 1400 of the King’s forces.
1795. Southey, Joan of Arc, VIII. 583. Then sallying forth, With such fierce onset charged them in the rear.
1857. Hughes, Tom Brown, v. Meet them like Englishmen, you School-house boys, and Charge them home.
1870. Bryant, Iliad, I. VII. 223. On foot to charge the foe.
1882. Daily News, 4 March. The Englishmen asserting that Payne charged Maclagan over before he got the ball.
Mod. The infuriated bull charged one of the horses.
fig. a. 1656. Bp. Hall, Rem. Wks. (1660), A ij b. Constantly charged with furious onsets of his sharp diseases.
b. intr. or absol.
1593. Shaks., 3 Hen. VI., I. iv. 15. Richard cry’de, Charge, and giue no foot of ground.
1652. J. Wadsworth, trans. Sandoval’s Civ. Wars Spain, 362. Seeing his game quite lost, hee, with five Horsmen more, charged into the Earl of Venavente’s troop.
1663. Butler, Hud., I. II. 67/902. Through thickest of his foes he charg’d.
1808. Scott, Marm., VI. xxxii. ‘Charge, Chester, charge! On, Stanley, on!’ Were the last words of Marmion.
1855. Prescott, Philip II., I. vii. (1857), 120. Orders were then given to charge, and, spurring forward their horses, the whole column came thundering on against the enemy.
1878. H. M. Stanley, Dark Cont., I. viii. 171 (Hoppe). As she [the canoe] charged up, bold and confident, propelled by forty paddlers.
1881. Times, 14 Feb., 4/3. Hunting…. A mob of hard-riding strangers charging across their fields and breaking through their fences is anything but pleasing.
Mod. The elephant charged at the tree with terrific violence.
