Webster's Dictionary, 1913

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Chariness noun The quality of being chary.

Chariot noun [ French Chariot , from char car. See Car .]
1. (Antiq.) A two-wheeled car or vehicle for war, racing, state processions, etc.

First moved the chariots , after whom the foot.
Cowper.

2. A four-wheeled pleasure or state carriage, having one seat. Shak.

Chariot transitive verb [ imperfect & past participle Charioted ; present participle & verbal noun Charioting .] To convey in a chariot. Milton.

Chariotee noun A light, covered, four-wheeled pleasure carriage with two seats.

Charioteer noun


1. One who drives a chariot.

2. (Astron.) A constellation. See Auriga , and Wagones .

Charism noun [ Greek ... gift .] (Eccl.) A miraculously given power, as of healing, speaking foreign languages without instruction, etc., attributed to some of the early Christians.

Charismatic adjective Of or pertaining to a charism.

Charitable adjective [ French See Charity .]


1. Full of love and good will; benevolent; kind.

Be thy intents wicked or charitable , . . .
. . . I will speak to thee.
Shak.

2. Liberal in judging of others; disposed to look on the best side, and to avoid harsh judgment.

3. Liberal in benefactions to the poor; giving freely; generous; beneficent.

What charitable men afford to beggars.
Shak.

4. Of or pertaining to charity; springing from, or intended for, charity; relating to almsgiving; eleemosynary; as, a charitable institution.

5. Dictated by kindness; favorable; lenient.

By a charitable construction it may be a sermon.
Latin Andrews.

Syn. -- Kind; beneficent; benevolent; generous; lenient; forgiving; helpful; liberal; favorable; indulgent.

Charitableness noun The quality of being charitable; the exercise of charity.

Charitably adverb In a charitable manner.

Charity noun ; plural Charities . [ French charité from Latin caritas dearness, high regard, love, from carus dear, costly, loved; asin to Sanskrit kam to wish, love, confer Ir. cara a friend, W. caru to love. Confer Caress .]


1. Love; universal benevolence; good will.

Now abideth faith, hope, charity , three; but the greatest of these is charity .
1. Cor. xiii. 13.

They, at least, are little to be envied, in whose hearts the great charities . . . lie dead.
Ruskin.

With malice towards none, with charity for all.
Lincoln.

2. Liberality in judging of men and their actions; a disposition which inclines men to put the best construction on the words and actions of others.

The highest exercise of charity is charity towards the uncharitable.
Buckminster.

3. Liberality to the poor and the suffering, to benevolent institutions, or to worthy causes; generosity.

The heathen poet, in commending the charity of Dido to the Trojans, spake like a Christian.
Dryden.

4. Whatever is bestowed gratuitously on the needy or suffering for their relief; alms; any act of kindness.

She did ill then to refuse her a charity .
L'Estrange.

5. A charitable institution, or a gift to create and support such an institution; as, Lady Margaret's charity .

6. plural (Law) Eleemosynary appointments [ grants or devises] including relief of the poor or friendless, education, religious culture, and public institutions.

The charities that soothe, and heal, and bless,
Are scattered at the feet of man like flowers.
Wordsworth.

Sisters of Charity (R. C. Ch.) , a sisterhood of religious women engaged in works of mercy, esp. in nursing the sick; -- a popular designation. There are various orders of the Sisters of Charity.

Syn. -- Love; benevolence; good will; affection; tenderness; beneficence; liberality; almsgiving.

Charivari noun [ French] A mock serenade of discordant noises, made with kettles, tin horns, etc., designed to annoy and insult.

» It was at first performed before the house of any person of advanced age who married a second time.

Chark noun [ Abbrev. from charcoal .] Charcoal; a cinder. [ Obsolete] DeFoe.

Chark transitive verb [ imperfect & past participle Charked .] To burn to a coal; to char. [ Obsolete]

Charlatan noun [ French charlatan , from Italian ciarlatano , from ciarlare to chartter, prate; of imitative origin; confer Italian zirlare to whistle like a thrush.] One who prates much in his own favor, and makes unwarrantable pretensions; a quack; an impostor; an empiric; a mountebank.

Charlatanic, Charlatanical adjective Of or like a charlatan; making undue pretension; empirical; pretentious; quackish. -- Char`la*tan"ic*al*ly , adverb

Charlatanism noun [ Confer French charlatanisme .] Charlatanry.

Charlatanry noun [ French charlatanrie , from Italian ciarlataneria . See Charlatan .] Undue pretensions to skill; quackery; wheedling; empiricism.

Charles's Wain [ Charles + wain ; confer Anglo-Saxon Carles w...n (for wægn ), Swedish karlvagnen , Danish karlsvogn . See Churl , and Wain .] (Astron.) The group of seven stars, commonly called the Dipper , in the constellation Ursa Major , or Great Bear . See Ursa major , under Ursa .

» The name is sometimes also applied to the Constellation.

Charlie noun
1. A familiar nickname or substitute for Charles .

2. A night watchman; -- an old name.

3. A short, pointed beard, like that worn by Charles I.

4. As a proper name, a fox; -- so called in fables and familiar literature.

Charlock noun [ Anglo-Saxon cerlic ; the latter part perhaps from Anglo-Saxon leác leek. Confer Hemlock .] (Botany) A cruciferous plant ( Brassica sinapistrum ) with yellow flowers; wild mustard. It is troublesome in grain fields. Called also chardock , chardlock , chedlock , and kedlock .

Jointed charlock , White charlock , a troublesome weed ( Raphanus Raphanistrum ) with straw-colored, whitish, or purplish flowers, and jointed pods: wild radish.

Charlotte noun [ French] A kind of pie or pudding made by lining a dish with slices of bread, and filling it with bread soaked in milk, and baked.

Charlotte Russe or
Charm (chärm) noun [ French charme , from Latin carmen song, verse, incantation, for casmen , akin to Sanskrit çasman , çasā , a laudatory song, from a root signifying to praise , to sing .]
1. A melody; a song. [ Obsolete]

With charm of earliest birds.
Milton.

Free liberty to chant our charms at will.
Spenser.

2. A word or combination of words sung or spoken in the practice of magic; a magical combination of words, characters, etc.; an incantation.

My high charms work.
Shak.

3. That which exerts an irresistible power to please and attract; that which fascinates; any alluring quality.

Charms strike the sight, but merit wins the soul.
Pope.

The charm of beauty's powerful glance.
Milton.

4. Anything worn for its supposed efficacy to the wearer in averting ill or securing good fortune.

5. Any small decorative object worn on the person, as a seal, a key, a silver whistle, or the like. Bunches of charms are often worn at the watch chain.

Syn. - Spell; incantation; conjuration; enchantment; fascination; attraction.

Charm transitive verb [ imperfect & past participle Charmed ; present participle & verbal noun Charming .] [ Confer French charmer . See Charm , noun ]
1. To make music upon; to tune. [ Obsolete & R.]

Here we our slender pipes may safely charm .
Spenser.

2. To subdue, control, or summon by incantation or supernatural influence; to affect by magic.

No witchcraft charm thee!
Shak.

3. To subdue or overcome by some secret power, or by that which gives pleasure; to allay; to soothe.

Music the fiercest grief can charm .
Pope.

4. To attract irresistibly; to delight exceedingly; to enchant; to fascinate.

They, on their mirth and dance
Intent, with jocund music charm his ear.
Milton.

5. To protect with, or make invulnerable by, spells, charms, or supernatural influences; as, a charmed life.

I, in my own woe charmed ,
Could not find death.
Shak.

Syn. - To fascinate; enchant; enrapture; captivate; bewitch; allure; subdue; delight; entice; transport.

Charm intransitive verb
1. To use magic arts or occult power; to make use of charms.

The voice of charmers, charming never so wisely.
Ps. lviii. 5.

2. To act as, or produce the effect of, a charm; to please greatly; to be fascinating.

3. To make a musical sound. [ Obsolete] Milton.

Charmel noun [ Hebrew ] A fruitful field.

Libanus shall be turned into charmel , and charmel shall be esteemed as a forest.
Isa. xxix. 17 (Douay version).

Charmer noun
1. One who charms, or has power to charm; one who uses the power of enchantment; a magician. Deut. xviii. 11.

2. One who delights and attracts the affections.

Charmeress noun An enchantress. Chaucer.

Charmful adjective Abounding with charms. "His charmful lyre." Cowley.

Charming adjective Pleasing the mind or senses in a high degree; delighting; fascinating; attractive.

How charming is divine philosophy.
Milton.

Syn. - Enchanting; bewitching; captivating; enrapturing; alluring; fascinating; delightful; pleasurable; graceful; lovely; amiable; pleasing; winning.

-- Charm"ing*ly , adverb -- Charm"ing*ness , noun

Charmless adjective Destitute of charms. Swift.

Charneco, Charnico noun A sort of sweet wine. [ Obsolete] Shak.

Charnel adjective [ French charnel carnal, fleshly, from Latin carnalis . See Carnal .] Containing the bodies of the dead. " Charnel vaults." Milton.

Charnel house , a tomb, vault, cemetery, or other place where the bones of the dead are deposited; originally, a place for the bones thrown up when digging new graves in old burial grounds.

Charnel noun A charnel house; a grave; a cemetery.

In their proud charnel of Thermopylæ.
Byron.

Charon noun [ Latin , from Greek ....] (Cless. Myth.) The son of Erebus and Nox, whose office it was to ferry the souls of the dead over the Styx, a river of the infernal regions. Shak.

Charpie noun [ French, properly fem. past participle of Old French charpir , carpir , to pluck, from Latin carpere . Confer Carpet .] (Medicine) Straight threads obtained by unraveling old linen cloth; -- used for surgical dressings.

Charqui noun [ Spanish A term used in South America, Central America, and the Western United States.] Jerked beef; beef cut into long strips and dried in the wind and sun. Darwin.

Charr noun See 1st Char .

Charras noun The gum resin of the hemp plant ( Cannabis sativa ). Same as Churrus . Balfour.

Charre noun [ Late Latin charrus a certain weight.] See Charge , noun , 17.

Charry adjective [ See 6th Char .] Pertaining to charcoal, or partaking of its qualities.

Chart noun [ A doublet of card : confer French charte charter, carte card. See Card , and confer Charter .]
1. A sheet of paper, pasteboard, or the like, on which information is exhibited, esp. when the information is arranged in tabular form; as, an historical chart .

2. A map; esp., a hydrographic or marine map; a map on which is projected a portion of water and the land which it surrounds, or by which it is surrounded, intended especially for the use of seamen; as, the United States Coast Survey charts ; the English Admiralty charts .

3. A written deed; a charter.

Globular chart , a chart constructed on a globular projection. See under Globular . -- Heliographic chart , a map of the sun with its spots. -- Mercator's chart , a chart constructed on the principle of Mercator's projection. See Projection . -- Plane chart , a representation of some part of the superficies of the globe, in which its spherical form is disregarded, the meridians being drawn parallel to each other, and the parallels of latitude at equal distances. -- Selenographic chart , a map representing the surface of the moon. -- Topographic chart , a minute delineation of a limited place or region.

Chart transitive verb [ imperfect & past participle Charted .] To lay down in a chart; to map; to delineate; as, to chart a coast.

Charta noun [ Latin , leaf of paper. See Chart .] (Law) (a) Material on which instruments, books, etc., are written; parchment or paper. (b) A charter or deed; a writing by which a grant is made. See Magna Charta .

Chartaceous adjective [ Latin chartaceus . See Charta .] Resembling paper or parchment; of paper-like texture; papery.

Charte noun [ French See Chart .] The constitution, or fundamental law, of the French monarchy, as established on the restoration of Louis XVIII., in 1814.

Charter noun [ Old French chartre , French chartre , charte , from Latin chartula a little paper, dim. of charta . See Chart , Card .]
1. A written evidence in due form of things done or granted, contracts made, etc., between man and man; a deed, or conveyance. [ Archaic]

2. An instrument in writing, from the sovereign power of a state or country, executed in due form, bestowing rights, franchises, or privileges.

The king [ John, adjective d . 1215], with a facility somewhat suspicious, signed and sealed the charter which was required of him. This famous deed, commonly called the "Great Charter ," either granted or secured very important liberties and privileges to every order of men in the kingdom.
Hume.

3. An act of a legislative body creating a municipal or other corporation and defining its powers and privileges. Also, an instrument in writing from the constituted authorities of an order or society (as the Freemasons), creating a lodge and defining its powers.

4. A special privilege, immunity, or exemption.

My mother,
Who has a charter to extol her blood,
When she does praise me, grieves me.
Shak.

5. (Com.) The letting or hiring a vessel by special contract, or the contract or instrument whereby a vessel is hired or let; as, a ship is offered for sale or charter . See Charter party , below.

Charter land (O. Eng. Law) , land held by charter, or in socage; bookland. -- Charter member , one of the original members of a society or corporation, esp. one named in a charter, or taking part in the first proceedings under it. -- Charter party [ French chartre partie , or charte partie , a divided charter; from the practice of cutting the instrument of contract in two, and giving one part to each of the contractors] (Com.) , a mercantile lease of a vessel; a specific contract by which the owners of a vessel let the entire vessel, or some principal part of the vessel, to another person, to be used by the latter in transportation for his own account, either under their charge or his. -- People's Charter (Eng. Hist.), the document which embodied the demands made by the Chartists, so called, upon the English government in 1838.

Charter transitive verb [ imperfect & past participle Chartered ; present participle & verbal noun Chartering .]
1. To establish by charter.

2. To hire or let by charter, as a ship. See Charter party , under Charter , noun

Chartered adjective
1. Granted or established by charter; having, or existing under, a charter; having a privilege by charter.

The sufficiency of chartered rights.
Palfrey.

The air, a chartered libertine.
Shak.

2. Hired or let by charter, as a ship.

Charterer noun One who charters; esp. one who hires a ship for a voyage.