To rush on; to fall on; to attack, especially with fixed bayonets; as, an army charges the enemy.

To load, as a musket or cannon; to thrust in powder, or powder and ball or shot.

To lead 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 mid with facts.

To set or lay on; to impose, as a tax; as, the land is charged with a quit rent; a rent is charge on the land.

To lay on or impose, as a task. The gospel chargeth us with piety towards God.

To put or lay on; as, to charge a building with ornaments, often implying superfluity.

To lay on, as a duty; followed by with. The commander charged the officer with the execution of the project. See Genesis 40:4 .

To entrust to; as, an officer is charged with dispatches.

To set to, as a dept; to place on the debit side of an account; as, to charge a man with the price of goods sold to him.

To load or lay on in words, something wrong, reproachful or criminal; to impute to; as, to charge a man with theft.

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.

To lay on, give or communicate, as an order, command or earnest request; to enjoin; to exhort. In all this, Job sinned not, nor charged God foolishly. Job 1:22.

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. 7 Timothy 6:77. 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. 7 Samuel 14:28.

To give directions to; to instruct authoritatively; as, the judge charged the grand jury to inquire respecting breaches of the peace.

To communicate electrical matter to, as to a coated vial, or an electrical battery.

To make an onset. Thus Glanville says, like your heroes of antiquity, he charges in iron; and we say, to charge with fixed bayonets. But in this application, the object is understood; to charge the enemy.

That which is laid on or in; in a general sense, any load or burden. It is the same word radically as cargo.

The quantity of powder, or of powder and ball or shot, used to load a musket, cannon or other like instrument.

An onset; a rushing on an enemy; attack; especially by moving troops with fixed bayonets. But it is used for an onset of cavalry as well as of infantry.

An order, injunction, mandate. Moses gave Joshua a charge.Numbers 27:22, 23. The king gave charge concerning Absalom. 2 Samuel 18:5.