overcharge

Etymology

It is formed from English over- + charge,^[2][3][4] first as inherited from Middle English overchargen, from chargen (“to load, charge”).^[5][6] The OED compares the later surcharge.^[2] The noun is from the verb according to the OED,^[2] while the Shorter Oxford forms it from over- and the noun charge.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

To load, fill or supply something to excess, to overburden: before 1325, in a manuscript of the Statutes of the Realm, where the noun, an excessive load or charge, first appears as well.^[2] The 1989 edition of the OED had dated the verb to 1398,^[7] the date of the Middle English Dictionary's first quotation, from Trevisa's translation of Bartholomaeus, where pillars are overburdened by the weight of earth.^[5] Etymonline dates the verb to about 1300.^[3]

Semantic evolution

From the start the verb was used figuratively as well as literally.^[2] In Middle English it could mean to overpower an enemy or press him hard (about 1390 to 1711);^[2] in Mannyng's Handlyng Synne (before 1400) it first meant to burden a person with expense, especially taxes; the modern sense of charging someone too much grew out of this.^[2] The Middle English Dictionary also records its use for grazing more animals on a common pasture than the law allowed.^[5] Etymonline dates the money sense to the 1660s,^[3] and the noun for a charge above the proper amount first appears in Pepys's diary in 1663.^[2] In the 17th and 18th centuries the verb was used of style laid on to excess in art and writing (1616–1849), of loading too much powder into a gun (before 1657), and of exaggeration (1711–1841, first in Addison).^[2] Electricity brought further senses: an excessive charge (1772) and giving a cell or battery too much charge (1823).^[2]

Timeline

• before 1325 – to overload or overburden; noun, an excessive load or charge.^[2]
• c. 1390 – to overpower, press hard (obsolete by 1711).^[2]
• before 1400 – to burden a person with expense, especially taxes.^[2]
• 1616 – in art and writing, to lay on to excess (obsolete by 1849).^[2]
• before 1631 – to accuse a person too severely.^[2]
• 1663 – noun, a charge above the proper amount.^[2]
• 1667 – to charge a sum above the proper price.^[2]
• 1711 – to exaggerate (obsolete by 1841).^[2]
• 1772 – noun, an excessive electrical charge.^[2]
• 1823 – to give a cell or battery too much charge.^[2]

Meanings

Verb

1. To charge someone too high a price, or more than the agreed amount: The taxi driver overcharged the tourists.^[8][6][2]
2. To fill or load something beyond its capacity; to overburden.^[8][6][2]
3. To give a battery or cell too much electric charge.^[2]
4. (literary) To exaggerate; the OED marks this sense obsolete.^[8][2]
5. (rare) To put too much powder into a firearm.^[2]

Noun

1. A charge above the proper or agreed amount: The bank refunded the overcharge.^[8][6][2]
2. An excessive load or burden.^[8][6][2]
3. An excessive electrical charge.^[2]

Word family

• overcharger

Related words

• surcharge
• charge
• undercharge

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z 27 28 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b c Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
6. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
7. ^ Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ a b c d e Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins