Emily Dickinson Lexicon

CHARGE, v.t. [charj; Fr. charger; Arm. carga; Sp. cargar; It. caricare, or carcare; Port. carregar. It would seem from the Welsh, that this word is from car, a cart or other vehicle, and that the noun charge or cargo was first formed, and therefore ought in arrangement to precede the verb. If the verb was first formed, the primary sense would be to load, to throw or put on or in. I think the fact to be otherwise. See Cargo.]

1. To rush on; to fall on; to attack, especially with fixed bayonets; as, an army charges the enemy.
2. To load, as a musket or cannon; to thrust in powder, or powder and ball or shot.
3. To load or burden; to throw on or impose that which oppresses; as, to charge the stomach with indigestible food; or to lay on, or to fill, without oppressing; as, to charge the memory with rules and precepts; to charge the mind with facts.
4. To set or lay on; to impose, as a tax; as, the land is charged with a quit rent; a rent is charged on the land.
5. To lay on or impose, as a task. The gospel chargeth us with piety toward God. – Tillotson.
6. To put or lay on; as, to charge a building with ornaments, often implying superfluity.
7. To lay on, as a duty; followed by with. The commander charged the officer with the execution of the project. See Gen. xl. 4.
8. To intrust to; as, an officer is charged with dispatches.
9. To set to, as a debt; to place on the debit side of an account; as, to charge a man with the price of goods sold to him.
10. To load or lay on in words, something wrong, reproachful or criminal; to impute to; as, to charge a man with theft.
11. To lay on in words; to impute to; followed by on before the person; as, to charge a crime on the offender; to charge evil consequences on the doctrines of the stoics.
12. To censure; to accuse. In all this, Job sinned not, nor charged God foolishly. – Job i.
13. To lay on, give or communicate, as an order, command, or earnest request; to enjoin; to exhort. Charge them that are rich in this world, that they be not high-minded. – 1 Tim. vi. In this sense, when the command is given in the name of God, or with an oath, the phrase amounts to an adjuration. To adjure; to bind by an oath. – 1 Sam. xiv. 28.
14. To give directions to; to instruct authoritatively; as, the judge charged the grand jury to inquire respecting breaches of the peace.
15. To communicate electrical matter to; as, to a coated vial, or an electrical battery.