Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- intransitive verb To release, as from confinement, care, or duty.
- intransitive verb To let go; empty out.
- intransitive verb To pour forth; emit.
- intransitive verb To shoot.
- intransitive verb To remove from office or employment. synonym: dismiss.
- intransitive verb To perform the obligations or demands of (an office, duty, or task).
- intransitive verb To comply with the terms of (a debt or promise, for example).
- intransitive verb Law To release from debt, as in bankruptcy.
- intransitive verb To remove (color) from cloth, as by chemical bleaching.
- intransitive verb Electricity To cause the release of stored energy or electric charge from (a battery, for example).
- intransitive verb To apportion (weight) evenly, as over a door.
- intransitive verb To relieve (a part) of excess weight by distribution of pressure.
- intransitive verb To clear the record of the loan of (a returned library book).
- intransitive verb To relieve (a ship, for example) of a burden or of contents; unload.
- intransitive verb To unload or empty (contents).
- intransitive verb To go off; fire.
- intransitive verb To pour forth, emit, or release contents.
- intransitive verb To become blurred, as a color or dye; run.
- intransitive verb To undergo the release of stored energy or electric charge.
- intransitive verb To get rid of a burden, load, or weight.
- noun The act of shooting or firing a projectile or weapon.
- noun A flowing out or pouring forth; emission; secretion.
- noun The amount or rate of emission or ejection.
- noun Something that is discharged, released, emitted, or excreted.
- noun The act or an instance of removing an obligation, burden, or responsibility.
- noun Fulfillment of the terms of something, such as a debt or promise.
- noun Performance, as of an office or duty.
- noun Dismissal or release from employment, service, care, or confinement.
- noun An official document certifying such release, especially from military service.
- noun Release of stored energy in a capacitor by the flow of current between its terminals.
- noun Conversion of chemical energy to electric energy in a storage battery.
- noun A flow of electricity in a dielectric, especially in a rarefied gas.
- noun Elimination of net electric charge from a charged body.
- noun The act of removing a load or burden.
from The Century Dictionary.
- To unload; disburden; free from a charge or load: as, to
discharge a ship by removing the cargo, a bow by releasing the arrow, a gun by firing it off, a Leyden jar by connecting its inner and outer coatings, etc. - To remove, emit, or transfer; clear out or off; send off or away.
- To give vent to; cause or allow to pass off; send or throw out; emit: as, a pipe discharges water; an ulcer discharges pus; this medicine will discharge bad humors from the blood; he discharged his fury upon the nearest object.
- To send forth by propulsion; let drive: as, to
discharge a shot from a gun, or a blow upon a person's head. - To clear off by payment, settlement, or performance; settle up; consummate: as, to
discharge a debt or an obligation. - To pay or settle for; satisfy a demand or an obligation for.
- To set free; dismiss; absolve; release from accusation, restraint, obligation, duty, or service: as, to
discharge a prisoner, a debtor, a jury, a servant, etc.; to discharge one's conscience of duty; to discharge the mind of business. - To carry on, as an obligatory course of action; perform the functions of, as an employment or office; execute; fulfil: as, to
discharge the duties of a sheriff or of a priest; to discharge a trust.
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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Records Center to black out specific blocks of text regarding the nature/reason for Mr. KENT†™ s discharge from the US Navy, and any speculation on my part as to the nature of that discharge is inappropriate without additional information.
grafton loola KENT 2010
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The agency that would change his discharge is the US Army Discharge
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Those are truly happy whom Christ doth not condemn, for his discharge is a sufficient answer to all other challenges; they are all coram non judice -- before an unauthorized judge. (b.)
Commentary on the Whole Bible Volume V (Matthew to John) 1721
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They said that I didn't have what they call the discharge
NPR Topics: News 2010
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They said that I didn't have what they call the discharge
NPR Topics: News 2010
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Then let _a_ and _b_ be discharged; the discharge destroys or neutralizes all external induction, and the coatings are therefore found by the carrier ball unelectrified; but it also removes almost the whole of the forces by which the electric charge was driven into the dielectric, and though probably a part of that charge goes forward in its passage and terminates in what we call discharge, the greater portion returns on its course to the surfaces of _c_, and consequently to the conductors _a_ and _b_, and constitutes the recharge observed.
Experimental Researches in Electricity, Volume 1 Michael Faraday 1829
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He received a similar discharge from the USMC, Camp Pendleton, CA;
Heroes or Villains? 2010
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Guard even though he had received an other-than-honorable discharge from the Marine Corps.
Heroes or Villains? 2010
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There is a local warm water discharge from a power plant that I fish at.
There is a local warm water discharge from a power plant that I fish at. 2009
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For me less than Honorable discharge is better than the Army giving him a medical discharge.
Heroes or Villains? 2010
sakhalinskii commented on the word discharge
Hello, Vietnam.
July 30, 2008