charge English · revision 3294

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=before 1200, Ancrene Riwle|origins=la carrus}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: UK /tʃɑːdʒ/, US /tʃɑːrdʒ/^(Roach et al. 2011)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ The verb is [[inh|enm|chargen|t=to load]],^(AHD 2000)^(Barnhart 1988) [[bor|fro|chargier|t=to load, burden, weigh down]],^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988) from [[la-lat|carricāre|t=to load a wagon or cart]],^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988)^(AHD 2000) from [[la|carrus|t=two-wheeled wagon]],^(Etymonline)^(MWU 2024) a Gaulish type of wagon, of Celtic origin.^(AHD 2000) The noun is from Old French charge “a load, burden”, from chargier.^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline) It is a doublet of [[carry]]^(Barnhart 1988) and of [[cargo]],^(Etymonline) and related to [[car]].^(Barnhart 1988)^(Hoad 1986)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The noun, “a load, weight”: probably before 1200, in an earlier version of the ''Ancrene Riwle'',^(Barnhart 1988) or about 1200.^(Etymonline) The verb, “to load, fill”: before 1250,^(Barnhart 1988) or the early 13th century.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ The senses “to entrust”, “to command” and “to accuse” all arose in Middle English and were already in Old French.^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988) The noun meant a responsibility or burden from the mid-14th century, as in ''take charge'' (late 14th century) and ''in charge'' (1510s);^(Etymonline) this led to the burden of expense in the mid-15th century and to a price asked for goods or services in the 1510s.^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988) The legal sense “accusation” is from the late 15th century, earlier “injunction, order”,^(Etymonline)^(Hoad 1986) and a judge's address to a jury from the 1680s.^(Etymonline) To charge, “rush to attack”, is from the 1560s (1583), perhaps through the sense “to load a weapon”, from 1541.^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline) The quantity of powder for one shot is from 1653.^(OED 1989) The electrical sense, of the noun, is from 1767,^(OED 1989) and of the verb, “to fill with electricity”, from 1748.^(Etymonline) “To ask as a price” is from 1787, and “to record as a debt” by 1889.^(Etymonline) In slang a charge was a dose of a drug from 1929 and a thrill or kick in American English from 1951.^(OED 1989)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * before 1200 – noun, a load.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * before 1250 – verb, to load.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * mid-14th century – responsibility; to impose expense.^(Etymonline)

+ * late 15th century – an accusation.^(Etymonline)

+ * 1541 – to load a weapon.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * 1583 – to rush to attack.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * 1680s – a judge's charge to a jury.^(Etymonline)

+ * 1748 – to fill with electricity.^(Etymonline)

+ * 1787 – to ask as a price.^(Etymonline)

+ * 1951 – a thrill (US slang).^(OED 1989)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Verb===

+ # To ask an amount as a [[price]] or [[fee]].^(AHD)^(Etymonline)

+ # To record a purchase as a debt, as on a [[credit card]].^(AHD)^(Etymonline)

+ # To formally [[accuse]] someone of a crime.^(AHD)^(Etymonline)

+ # To rush forward in an [[attack]].^(AHD)^(Barnhart 1988)

+ # To give someone a duty or responsibility.^(AHD)^(Etymonline)

+ # To put [[electricity]] into a [[battery]] or device.^(AHD)^(Etymonline)

+ # To load or fill.^(AHD)^(OED 1989)

+

+ ===Noun===

+ # The price asked for something; a [[cost]].^(AHD)^(Etymonline)

+ # A formal [[accusation]] of a crime.^(AHD)^(Etymonline)

+ # Care, custody or responsibility: ''in charge of''; a person in someone's care.^(AHD)^(Etymonline)

+ # A rushing attack.^(AHD)^(Hoad 1986)

+ # An amount of [[explosive]] fired at one time.^(AHD)^(OED 1989)

+ # ''(physics)'' A quantity of electricity held by a body or particle.^(AHD)^(OED 1989)

+ # Instructions given by a judge to a [[jury]].^(AHD)^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[chargeless]]

+ * [[charge-off]]

+ * [[chargeback]]

+ * [[precharge]]

+ * [[chargeful]]

+ * [[countercharge]]

+ * [[hypercharge]]

+ * [[mischarge]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[cargo]]

+ * [[cark]]

+ * [[carack]]

+ * [[caricature]]

+ * [[discharge]]

+ * [[surcharge]]

+ * [[carry]]

+ * [[car]]

+ * [[career]]

+ * [[overcharge]]

+ * [[chargé d'affaires]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ ''Chargé'', from 1767, is short for ''chargé d'affaires'', a diplomat in charge of an embassy in the ambassador's absence.^(OED 1989)^(SOED 2002)^(MWU 2024) In Scots and Northumbrian dialect ''charges'' (chairge) still meant expense, cost.^(Wright 1898)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}