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(), v. t.[imp. & p. p.Discharged (); p. pr. & vb. n.Discharging.] [OE. deschargen, dischargen, OF. deschargier, F. dcharger; pref. des- (L. dis) + chargier, F. charger. See Charge.] 1. To relieve of a charge, load, or burden; to empty of a load or cargo; to unburden; to unload; as, to discharge a vessel. 2. 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. Feeling in other cases discharges itself in indirect muscular actions. H. Spencer. 3. To of something weighing upon or impeding over one, as a debt, claim, obligation, responsibility, accusation, etc.; to absolve; to acquit; to clear. Discharged of business, void of strife. Dryden. In one man's fault dischar Discharge" v. i.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. The cloud, if it were oily or fatty, would not discharge. Bacon. Discharge" n.[Cf. F. dcharge. See Discharge, v. t.] 1. 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. 2. Firing off; explosive removal of a charge; explosion; letting off; as, a discharge of arrows, of artillery. 3. Act of relieving of something which oppresses or weighs upon one, as an obligation, liability, debt, accusation, etc.; acquittance; as, the discharge of a debtor. 4. Act of removing, or getting rid of, an obligation, liability, etc.; fulfillment, as by the payment of a debt, or the performance of a trust or duty. Indefatigable in the discharge of business. Motley. Nothing can absolve us from the discharge of those duties. L'Estrange. 5. Release or dismissal from an office, employment, etc.; dismission; as, the discharge of a workman by his employer. 6. Legal release from confinement; liberation; as, the discharge of a prisoner. 7. The state of being discharged or relieved Discharge" v. t.(Textile Dyeing & Printing) To bleach out or to remove or efface, as by a chemical process; as, to discharge the color from a dyed fabric in order to form light figures on a dark ground. Discharge" n.(Elec.) The equalization of a difference of electric potential between two points. The character of the discharge is mostly determined by the nature of the medium through which it takes place, the amount of the difference of potential, and the form of the terminal conductors on which the difference exists. The discharge may be alternating, continuous, brush, connective, disruptive, glow, oscillatory, stratified, etc. スポンサード リンク
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