discharge
UK /dɪsˈtʃɑːdʒ/ · US /dɪsˈtʃɑɹdʒ/ verb, noun
Forms discharges discharging discharged
- verb To accomplish or complete, as an obligation.
- verb To free of a debt, claim, obligation, responsibility, accusation, etc.; to absolve; to acquit; to forgive; to clear.
- verb To send away (a creditor) satisfied by payment; to pay one's debt or obligation to.
- verb To set aside; to annul; to dismiss.
- verb To expel or let go.
- verb To let fly, as a missile; to shoot.
- verb (electricity) To release (an accumulated charge).
- verb To relieve of an office or employment; to send away from service; to dismiss.
- noun (medicine) The act of releasing an inpatient from hospital. “care transition after discharge”
- noun (military) The act of releasing a member of the armed forces from service. “career transition after discharge”
- noun The material thus released. “a mucopurulent vaginal discharge”
- noun The act of firing a projectile, especially from a firearm. “negligent discharge”
- noun The process of removing the load borne by something.
- noun The process of flowing out.
- noun (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.
- noun (electricity) The act of releasing an accumulated charge.
Synonyms
fire let go terminate axe can decruit dehire discard remove dismiss downsize give the axe give someone the boot give someone their cards give the chop give the elbow give someone the heave-ho give someone the old heave-ho lay off let someone go venting emission expelling spark arc electric arc electric discharge outpouring run dismissal
Antonyms
Etymology
From Middle English dischargen, from Old French deschargier (“to unload”), from Late Latin discarricāre (“unload”). By surface analysis, dis- + charge.
Webster’s 1913
- verb To relieve of a charge, load, or burden; to empty of a load or cargo; to unburden; to unload; as, to discharge a vessel.
- verb To free of the missile with which anything is charged or loaded; to let go the charge of; as, to discharge a bow, catapult, etc.; especially, said of firearms, --to fire off; to shoot off; also, to relieve from a state of tension, as a Leyden jar. The galleys also did oftentimes, out of their prows, discharge their great pieces against the city. Knolles.
- verb To throw off or deliver a load, charge, or burden; to unload; to emit or give vent to fluid or other contents; as, the water pipe discharges freely.
- noun The act of discharging; the act of relieving of a charge or load; removal of a load or burden; unloading; as, the discharge of a ship; discharge of a cargo.
Etymology [OE. deschargen, dischargen, OF. deschargier, F. décharger; pref. des- (L. dis) + chargier, F. charger. See Charge.]
Etymology [Cf. F. décharge. See Discharge, v. t.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “discharge”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details