discharge

From Middle English dischargen, from Old French deschargier (“to unload”), from Late Latin discarricāre (“unload”). By surface analysis, dis- +‎ charge.

• (Received Pronunciation)
  • (verb) IPA^(key): /dɪsˈtʃɑːdʒ/

    • Audio (Southern England)

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  • (noun) IPA^(key): /ˈdɪstʃɑːdʒ/

    • Audio (Southern England)

      (file)

• (US)
  • (verb) enPR: dĭschärj', IPA^(key): /dɪsˈtʃɑɹdʒ/
  • (noun) enPR: dĭs'chärj, IPA^(key): /ˈdɪstʃɑɹdʒ/

    • Audio (US)

      (file)

• Rhymes: -ɑː(ɹ)dʒ, -ɪstʃɑː(ɹ)dʒ

discharge (third-person singular simple present discharges, present participle discharging, simple past and past participle discharged)

1. To accomplish or complete, as an obligation.
   • 1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tempest”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene i]:

     O most dear mistress, / The sun will set before I shall discharge / What I must strive to do.

2. To free of a debt, claim, obligation, responsibility, accusation, etc.; to absolve; to acquit; to forgive; to clear.
   • 1579, Plutarke of Chæronea [i.e., Plutarch], “Agis and Cleomenes”, in Thomas North, transl., The Lives of the Noble Grecians and Romaines, […], London: […] Richard Field, →OCLC, page 851:

     But in deede, the ſecret cauſe that brought Ageſilaus to conſent vnto this practiſe, was the greatnes of his dette which he ought, of the which he hoped to be diſcharged by chaunging of the ſtate and common wealth.

   • 1692, Roger L’Estrange, “ (please specify the fable number.) (please specify the name of the fable.)”, in Fables, of Æsop and Other Eminent Mythologists: […], London: […] R[ichard] Sare, […], →OCLC:

     For if One Man's Faults could Discharge Another Man of his Duty,there would be no longer any Place left for the Common Offices of Society.

   • a. 1701 (date written), John Dryden, “The Second Epode of Horace”, in The Miscellaneous Works of John Dryden, […], volume II, London: […] J[acob] and R[ichard] Tonson, […], published 1760, →OCLC, page 477:

     How happy is his low degree, / How rich in humble poverty, is he, / Who leads a quiet country life; / Diſcharg'd of buſineſs, void of ſtrife, / And from the griping ſcrivener free?

3. To send away (a creditor) satisfied by payment; to pay one's debt or obligation to.
   • c. 1596–1598 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merchant of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene ii]:

     If he had / The present money to discharge the Jew.

4. To set aside; to annul; to dismiss.
   • 1849–1861, Thomas Babington Macaulay, chapter 12, in The History of England from the Accession of James the Second, volumes (please specify |volume=I to V), London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, →OCLC:

     The order for Daly's attendance was discharged.

5. To expel or let go.
   • January 1, 1878, Herbert Spencer, Ceremonial Government, published in The Fortnightly Review No. 132

     Feeling in other cases discharges itself in indirect muscular actions.

6. To let fly, as a missile; to shoot.
   • c. 1603–1604 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Othello, the Moore of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene i]:

     They do discharge their shot of courtesy.

   • 1749, Henry Fielding, The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, volumes (please specify |volume=I to VI), London: A[ndrew] Millar, […], →OCLC:

     Mrs Partridge, upon this, immediately fell into a fury, and discharged the trencher on which she was eating, at the head of poor Jenny […]

7. (electricity) To release (an accumulated charge).
   • 2024 March 6, “Network News: GWR '230' sets UK battery record”, in RAIL, number 1004, page 13:

     GWR plans to use it on the Greenford branch in west London, making use of a fast charger at West Ealing that will charge the batteries in just three and a half minutes. This fast charger is essentially a battery installed at the lineside which is trickle-charged from the electricity grid. It can then discharge quickly into the train's batteries through charging rails and then start recharging itself while the train is running in service.

8. To relieve of an office or employment; to send away from service; to dismiss.

   Synonyms: fire, let go, terminate; see also Thesaurus:lay off

   • c. 1591–1592 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Third Part of Henry the Sixt, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene v]:

     Discharge the common sort / With pay and thanks.

   • 1641 May, John Milton, Of Reformation Touching Church-Discipline in England: And the Cavvses that hitherto have Hindred it; republished as Will Taliaferro Hale, editor, Of Reformation Touching Church-Discipline in England (Yale Studies in English; LIV), New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1916, →OCLC:

     Grindal […] was discharged the government of his see.

   1. (medicine) To release (an inpatient) from hospital.
   2. (military) To release (a member of the armed forces) from service.
9. To release legally from confinement; to set at liberty.

   to discharge a prisoner

10. To operate (any weapon that fires a projectile, such as a shotgun or sling).
    • 1603, Richard Knolles, The Generall Historie of the Turkes, […], London: […] Adam Islip, →OCLC:

      discharge his pieces

    • 1918 September–November, Edgar Rice Burroughs, “The Land That Time Forgot”, in The Blue Book Magazine, Chicago, Ill.: Story-press Corp., →OCLC; republished as chapter IV, in Hugo Gernsback, editor, Amazing Stories, (please specify |part=I, II, or III), New York, N.Y.: Experimenter Publishing, 1927, →OCLC:

      I ran forward, discharging my pistol into the creature's body in an effort to force it to relinquish its prey; but I might as profitably have shot at the sun.

11. (logic) To release (an auxiliary assumption) from the list of assumptions used in arguments, and return to the main argument.
12. To unload a ship or another means of transport.
13. To put forth, or remove, as a charge or burden; to take out, as that with which anything is loaded or filled.

    to discharge a cargo

14. To give forth; to emit or send out.

    A pipe discharges water.

15. To let fly; to give expression to; to utter.

    He discharged a horrible oath.

16. (transitive, textiles) To bleach out or to remove or efface, as by a chemical process.

    to discharge the colour from a dyed fabric in order to form light figures on a dark background

17. (obsolete, Scotland) To prohibit; to forbid.
    • 1822, [Walter Scott], Peveril of the Peak. […], volumes (please specify |volume=I to IV), Edinburgh: […] Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Hurst, Robinson, and Co., →OCLC:

      That Richard Stevenson, Robert Calcott, and Richard Tyldesley, be discharged from farther restraint, giving good security to appear at this Board whensoever summoned, and not depart this city until full satisfaction be given

discharge (countable and uncountable, plural discharges)

1. The act of expelling or letting go.
   1. (medicine) The act of releasing an inpatient from hospital.
   2. (military) The act of releasing a member of the armed forces from service.
2. The act of firing a projectile, especially from a firearm.

   Synonym: firing

3. The process of removing the load borne by something.

   Synonym: unloading

4. The process of flowing out.
   1. (medicine, uncountable) Pus or exudate or mucus (but in modern usage not exclusively blood) from a wound or orifice, usually due to pathological or hormonal changes.
5. (electricity) The act of releasing an accumulated charge.
6. (hydrology) The volume of water transported by a river in a certain amount of time, usually in units of m³/s (cubic meters per second).
7. The act of accomplishing (an obligation) or repaying a debt etc.; performance.
   • 1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tempest”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene i]:

     Whereof what's past is prologue, what to come / In yours and my discharge.

   • 1890, James George Frazer, The Golden Bough, volume 2, page 137:

     She [the Queen] was assisted in the discharge of her solemn functions by fourteen sacred women, one for each of the altars of Dionysus.