1. [n]  any of several small-scaled trout
2. [n]  a human female who does housework; "the char will clean the carpet"
3. [n]  a charred substance
4. [v]  burn slightly and superficially so as to affect color; "The cook blackened the chicken breast"; "The fire charred the ceiling above the mantelpiece"; "the flames scorched the ceiling"
5. [v]  burn to charcoal; "Without a drenching rain, the forest fire will char everything"

1. \Char\, Charr \Charr\, n. [Ir. cear, Gael. ceara, lit.,
   red, blood-colored, fr. cear blood. So named from its red
   belly.] (Zo["o]l.)
   One of the several species of fishes of the genus
   {Salvelinus}, allied to the spotted trout and salmon,
   inhabiting deep lakes in mountainous regions in Europe. In
   the United States, the brook trout ({Salvelinus fontinalis})
   is sometimes called a char.
   

2. \Char\, n. [F.]
   A car; a chariot. [Obs.] --Chaucer.
   

3. \Char\, n. [OE. cherr, char a turning, time, work, AS.
   cerr, cyrr, turn, occasion, business, fr. cerran, cyrran, to
   turn; akin to OS. k["e]rian, OHG. ch["e]ran, G. kehren. Cf.
   {Chore}, {Ajar}.]
   Work done by the day; a single job, or task; a chore.
   [Written also {chare}.] [Eng.]
         When thou hast done this chare, I give thee leave To
         play till doomsday.                      --Shak.
   

4. \Char\, Chare \Chare\, v. t. [See 3d {Char}.]
   1. To perform; to do; to finish. [Obs.] --Nores.
            Thet char is chared, as the good wife said when she
            had hanged her husband.               --Old Proverb.
   2. To work or hew, as stone. --Oxf. Gloss.
   

5. \Char\, Chare \Chare\, v. i.
   To work by the day, without being a regularly hired servant;
   to do small jobs.
   

6. \Char\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Charred}; p. pr. & vb. n.
   {Charring}.] [Prob. the same word as char to perform (see
   {Char}, n.), the modern use coming from charcoal, prop.
   coal-turned, turned to coal.]
   1. To reduce to coal or carbon by exposure to heat; to reduce
      to charcoal; to burn to a cinder.
   2. To burn slightly or partially; as, to char wood.
   

/keir/ or /char/; rarely, /kar/ character. Especially used by C programmers, as "char" is C's typename for character data.

[Jargon File]