charge 
16. In Scots lair : (a) The command of the 
sovereign's letters to perform some act, as to 
enter an heir, (b) The messenger's copy of 
service requiring the person to obey the order 
of the letters, or generally to implement the 
decree of a court: as, a charge on letters of 
horning, or a charge against a superior. 16. 
What is alleged or brought forward by way of 
accusation ; imputation ; accusation. 
We need not put new matter to his charge. 
Shak., Cor., in. 3. 
The charge of confounding together very different classes 
of phenomena. \l'l'ii-,'/l. 
17. Milit., an impetuous attack upon the en- 
emy, made with the view of fighting him at 
close quarters and routing him by the onset. 
The English and Dutch were thrice repulsed with great 
slaughter, and returned thrice to the charge. 
Macaulay, Hist. Eng., xxi. 
O the wild chnroe they made! 
TVnncnvn, Charge of the Light Brigade. 
18. An order or a signal to make such an at- 
tack : as, the trumpeters sounded the charge. 
Gives the hot charge and bids them do their liking. 
Shale., Lucrece, 1. 434. 
19f. The position of a weapon held in readi- 
ness for attack or encounter. 
Their armed staves in charge. Shak., 2 Hen. IV., iv. 1. 
20. In Iter., a bearing, or any figure borne or 
represented on an escutcheon, whether on the 
field or on an ordinary. The ancient charges were 
far more simple than the modern, and this is so generally 
the case that the age of an achievement may almost he 
known by its relative simplicity ; thus a shield simply 
divided into a few large parts, that is, charged with ordi- 
naries and subordinaries only, is generally older than one 
charged with mullets, allerions, and the like ; and a shield 
having only these is generally older than one having more 
ictorial representations. 
1. Of dogs: () The act of lying down. (6) 
The word of command given to a dog to lie 
down. 22. In farriery, a preparation of the 
consistence of a thick decoction, or between an 
ointment and a plaster, used as a remedy for 
sprains and inflammations Charge and dis- 
charge, a method iif taking accounts in chancery, the com- 
plainant delivering his account of charges to the master, 
and the defendant his discharge, objections, or counter- 
claim. Charge and specifications, a general allega- 
tion of guilt f an otfense, followed by details of particular 
instances of its commission. Conjoined or conjunct 
charges, in her., charges in arms borne linked together. 
Free Charge, in electrical experiments with the Ley- 
den jar or battery, that part of the induced electricity 
which passes through the air to surrounding conductors. 
General charge, general special charge. 
pi 
2 
, . - 
eral. Outward charges (natU.), the pilotage or other 
charges incurred by a vessel on leaving port.=Syn. 17. 
Attack, Asuault, etc. See onset. 
charget, n. [ME., appar. < OF. charge, pp. of 
charger, load : see charge, v.] Heavy; weighty. 
Lyghte thinge upwarde, and donuwarde charge. 
Chaucer. House of Fame, 1. 74(i. 
Chargeability (char-ja-bil'j-ti), n. [< charge- 
able: see -WMiy.] The quality or condition of 
being chargeable ; chargeableness. 
chargeable (char'ja-bl), . [< charge + -able. 
Cf. OF. chargeable, charchable, etc.] 1. Capa- 
ble of being charged, (a) Capable of being or liable 
to be set, laid, or imposed : as, a duty chargeable on sugar. 
(&) Subject to a charge or tax : as, sugar chargeable with 
a duty. 
The town is an inseparable part of the State, and charge- 
able with many State duties, and unless properly governed 
may cause mischief to the commonwealth at large. 
N. A. Rev., CXXXIX. S09. 
(f) Capable of being laid to one's charge ; that may be 
imputed to one. 
Some fault chargeable upon him. South. 
His failure, though partly clian/euble on himself, was 
less so than on circumstances beyond his control. 
Prefcott, Ferd. and Isa., ii. 1ft. 
(d) Subject to accusation ; liable to be accused. 
Your papers would be chargeable with something worse 
than indelicacy ; they would be immoral. Spectator. 
He complies with the terms of the conditions accepted 
by him, and is not chargeable with bad faith. 
Contemporary Rev., L. 1C. 
2f. Expensive ; costly ; causing expense, and 
hence burdensome. 
Whereof ensued greate trobles, longe and chardgeble 
suetes. English Gilds (E. E. T. S.), p. 30-2. 
Small boates be neither verie chargeable in makyng, nor 
verie oft in great ieopardie. 
Ascham, The Scholemaster, p. 65. 
That we might not be chargeable to any of you. 
2 Thes. iii. 8. 
A bloody and chargeable civil war. Burke. 
3f. Weighty; involving care and trouble. 
Charles was at that time letted with chargeable business. 
Fabyan. 
Chargeableness (char'ja-bl-nes), . [< charge- 
able + -ness.] 1. Liability to a charge or 
charges; capability of being charged. 2f. 
930 
Expensiveness ; cost; costliness. Whitlock ; 
Boyle. 
Chargeablyt (char'ja-bli), adr. Expensively; 
at great cost. Ascliam. 
chargeantt, . [ME., < OF. chargeant, ppr. of 
charge r, load : see charge, r.] Burdensome. 
A gret multitude of peple, fill chargeant, and ful anoy- 
ons. Chaucer, Melibeus. 
charged (charjd), p. a. [Pp. of charge, r.] 1. 
In her. : (a) Bearing a charge: as, a fesse 
cliai-i/ed with three roses. (6) Serving as a 
charge : as, three roses charged upon a fesse. 
2. Overcharged or exaggerated. [Bare.] 
charg6 d'affaires (shar-zha' da -far'); pi. 
charge's d'affaires (shar-zha' da-far'). [F., lit. 
charged with affairs: charge, pp. of charger, 
charge ; df , < L. de, of, with ; affaire, affair : see 
charge, r., and affair.] 1. One who transacts 
diplomatic business at a foreign court during 
the absence of his superior, the ambassador or 
minister. 2. An envoy to a state to which 
a diplomatist of a higher grade is not sent. 
Charges d'affaires of this class constitute the third grade 
of foreign ministers, and are not accredited to the sov- 
ereign, but to the department for foreign affairs. See n > - 
batfttador. 
chargefult (charj'ful), a. [< charge, ., + -ful, 
1.] Expensive; costly. 
Here s the note 
How much your chain weighs to the utmost carat ; 
The fineness of the gold, and chargeful fashion. 
Shak., C. of E., Iv. 1. 
charge-houset (chiirj'hous), n. A schoolhouse. 
Do you not educate youth at the charrje-house ? 
Shah., L. L. L., v. 1. 
chargeless (charj'les), a. [< charge + -less.'] 
1. Free from charge or burden. 2f. Not ex- 
pensive ; free from expense. 
A place both more publick, roomy, and chargeleja. 
Dp. Hall, Hard Measure. 
chargeoust(char'jus), . [ME., < OF. chargeux, 
< charge: see charge, n.] Costly; expensive; 
burdensome. Chaucer. 
And when I was among you and had need I was charge- 
ous to no man. Wyelif, 2 Cor. xi. 0. 
charger 1 (chiir'jer), . [< charge + -er 1 .] 1. 
One who or that which charges. 2. A war- 
horse. 
Some who on battle charger prance. 
Byron, The Giaour. 
He rode a noble white charqer, whose burnished capari- 
sons dazzled the eye with their splendor. 
Prescutt, Ferd. and Isa., ii. in. 
3. In mining, an implement for charging hori- 
zontal bore-holes with powder. 4. In gun., 
a contrivance for measuring and placing in a 
gun a certain quantity or charge of powder or 
shot. 
charger 2 (chiir'jer), n. [< ME. chargeour, char- 
inure, chargere, < chargen, load; with F. suffix. 
Cf. OF. chargeoire ! cherjoxere, a sort of trap, an 
instrument used in loading guns, chargeor, a 
place for loading vessels ; < charger, load : see 
charge, r.] 1. A large flat dish or platter. 
He sowppes alle this sesone with sevene knave childre, 
Choppid in a chargour of chalke whytt sylver.. 
Uorte Arthure (E. E. T. S.), 1. 1026. 
Give me here John Baptist's head in a charger. 
Mat. xiv. 8. 
2f. In England, in the middle ages, a servant 
or officer of the household w-hose duty was to 
bear the meats to table at banquets. 
I was that cheef chargeour, 
I bar flesch for folkes feste ; 
Ihesu criat vre saueour 
He fedeth bothe lest and meste. 
Holy Rood (E. E. T. S.), p. 130. 
charger-pit (chiir'jer-pit), n. Milit., a shelter- 
pit to cover the horse of a mounted officer when 
exposed to the enemy's fire. Farrow, Mil. 
Encyc. 
charge-sheet (charj'shet), n. A paper kept at 
a police-station to receive each night the names 
of the persons arrested or taken into custody, 
with the nature of the accusation and the name 
of the accuser in each case ; a blotter. [Eng.] 
charg6ship (shar-zha'ship), n. [< chargb + 
-ship.] The office of a charge d'affaires. 
charily (char'i-li), adv. In a chary manner; 
carefully; warily; sparingly; frugally. 
Whose provident arm else but God's did bring to nought 
the power-undermining, which was carried so warily and 
charily? Sheldon, Miracles, p. 316. 
Charina (ka-ri'nii), n. [NL. (J. E. Gray, 1849).] 
1. A genus of boa-like serpents, typical of the 
family Charinidas. 2. [I. c.] A member of 
this genus ; specifically, Charina plumbea, an 
American species. 
chariness (char'i-nes), n. [< chary + -ness.] 
1 . The quality of being chary ; caution ; care ; 
charioteering 
frugality; sparingness; parsimony; disposition 
to withhold or refrain from bestowing. 2f. 
Nicety ; scrupulousness. 
I will consent to act any villainy against him, that may 
not sully the chariness of our honesty. 
Shak., M. W. of W., ii. 1. 
charinid (kar'i-nid), . A snake of the family 
( 'liarinida 1 . 
Charinidae (ka-rin'i-de), n.pl. [NL., < Charina 
+ -idte. ] A family of peropodous serpents with 
toothless premaxillaries, and without post- 
frontal, superorbital, or coronoid bones. Only 
one species, the Charina plumbea of California 
and Mexico, is known. 
Charinina (kar-i-ui'na), n. pi. [NL., < Charina 
+ -trt 2 .] A group or subfamily referred to the 
Boida, represented by the genus Charina: same 
as Charinidte. 
charinoid (kar'i-noid), a. and n. [< Cluirina 
+ -aid.] I. a. Resembling or having the char- 
acters of the Charimdce. 
II. n. A charinid. 
chariot (char'i-pt), n. [<ME. chariot, charyot, 
charott,< OF. chariot, dim. of char, a car: see 
car 1 , cfcar 1 . Cf. charet.] 1. A two-wheeled car 
or vehicle, used in various forms by the ancients 
in war, in processions, and for racing, as well as 
in social and private life. The Roman chariot was 
called a Mfia, a triga, or a quadriga, according as it was 
drawn by two, three, or four horses, all abreast. The tri- 
umphal chariot was a quadriga ; it was very richly orna- 
Greek Chariot. 
Ptflops and Hippodameia. From a red-figured vase. 
mented, and sometimes made of ivory. Greek and Roman 
chariots for war and racing were usually closed in front 
and open behind, and without seats. The war-chariots 
of the ancient Persians and Britons were armed with 
weapons like scythe-blades or sickles projecting from the 
hubs, and are hence called scythe-chariots. 
And also suche another Charyot, with suche Hoostes, 
ordeynd and arrayd, gon with the Empresse, upon another 
syde. Mandemlle, Travels, p. 242. 
Thy grand captain Antony 
Shall set thee on triumphant chariots, and 
Put garlands on thy head. Shale., A. and C., iii. 1. 
2. In modern times : (a) A somewhat indefinite 
name for a more or less stately four-wheeled 
carriage. 
All this while Queen Mary had contented her self to be 
Queen by Proclamation ; but now that things were some- 
thing settled, she proceeds to her Coronation ; for, on the 
last of September, she rode in her Chariot thro' London 
towards Westminster. Baker, Chronicles, p. 317. 
(6) A pleasure-carriage, of different forms. 
The lady charged the boy to remember, as a means of 
identifying the expected green chariot, that it would have 
a coachman with a gold-laced hat on the box. 
Dickens, Nicholas Nickleby, vi. 
chariot (char'i-ot), r. [< chariot, n.] I. trans. 
To convey in a chariot. [Rare.] 
An angel ... all in flames ascended, . . . 
As in a fiery column charioting 
His godlike presence. Milton, 8. A., 1. 27. 
O thou 
Who chariotest to their dark wintry bed 
The winged seeds. Shelley, To the West Wind, I. 
II. intrans. To ride in a chariot, 
chariotee (char"i-o-te'), n. [< chariot + -ee%.] 
A small light pleasure-chariot, with two seats 
and four wheels. 
charioteer (char // i-o-ter / ), n. [< chariot + 
-eer ; a modification of ME. charieter, -ere, af- 
ter OF. charretier, a charioteer. ] 1 . One who 
drives or directs a chariot. 
Mounted combatants and charioteers. 
Cowper, Iliad, xxiii. 166. 
2. [cap.] The constellation Auriga (which 
see). 3. A serranoid fish, Dules auriga, hav- 
ing a filamentous dorsal spine like a coach- 
whip. It is a rare Brazilian and Caribbean sea- 
fish. Also called coachman. 
charioteer (ehar"i-o-ter'), v. i. [< charioteer, 
n.] To drive a chariot, or as if in a chariot; 
act the part of a charioteer. [Poetical.] 
To charioteer with wings on high, 
And to rein in the tempests of the sky. 
Southey, Ode to Astronomy. 
charioteering (char"i-o-ter'ing), n. [Verbal n. 
of charioteer, v.] The act or art of driving a 
chariot. 
