\Dis*charge"\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Discharged}; p.
pr. & vb. n. {Discharging}.] [OE. deschargen, dischargen, OF.
deschargier, F. d['e]charger; 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 discharge another man of his
         duty.                                 --L'Estrange.
4. To relieve of an office or employment; to send away from
   service; to dismiss.
         Discharge the common sort With pay and thanks.
                                               --Shak.
         Grindal . . . was discharged the government of his
         see.                                  --Milton.
5. To release legally from confinement; to set at liberty;
   as, to discharge a prisoner.
6. To put forth, or remove, as a charge or burden; to take
   out, as that with which anything is loaded or filled; as,
   to discharge a cargo.
7. To let fly, as a missile; to shoot.
         They do discharge their shot of courtesy. --Shak.
8. To set aside; to annul; to dismiss.
         We say such an order was ``discharged on appeal.''
                                               --Mozley & W.
         The order for Daly's attendance was discharged.
                                               --Macaulay.
9. To throw off the obligation of, as a duty or debt; to
   relieve one's self of, by fulfilling conditions,
   performing duty, trust, and the like; hence, to perform or
   execute, as an office, or part.
         Had I a hundred tongues, a wit so large As could
         their hundred offices discharge.      --Dryden.
10. To send away (a creditor) satisfied by payment; to pay
    one's debt or obligation to. [Obs.]
          If he had The present money to discharge the Jew.
                                               --Shak.
11. To give forth; to emit or send out; as, a pipe discharges
    water; to let fly; to give expression to; to utter; as,
    to discharge a horrible oath.
12. To prohibit; to forbid. [Scot. Obs.] --Sir W. Scott.
{Discharging arch} (Arch.), an arch over a door, window, or
   other opening, to distribute the pressure of the wall
   above. See Illust. of {Lintel}.
{Discharging piece}, {Discharging strut} (Arch.), a piece set
   to carry thrust or weight to a solid point of support.
{Discharging rod} (Elec.), a bent wire, with knobs at both
   ends, and insulated by a glass handle. It is employed for
   discharging a Leyden jar or an electrical battery. See
   {Discharger}.
Syn: See {Deliver}.

\Dis*charge"\, 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.

\Dis*charge"\, n. [Cf. F. d['e]charge. 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 of a debt,
   obligation, office, and the like; acquittal.
         Too secure of our discharge From penalty. --Milton.
8. That which discharges or releases from an obligation,
   liability, penalty, etc., as a price of ransom, a legal
   document.
         Death, who sets all free, Hath paid his ransom now
         and full discharge.                   --Milton.
9. A flowing or issuing out; emission; vent; evacuation;
   also, that which is discharged or emitted; as, a rapid
   discharge of water from the pipe.
         The hemorrhage being stopped, the next occurrence is
         a thin serous discharge.              --S. Sharp.
{Charge and discharge}. (Equity Practice) See under {Charge},
   n.
{Paralytic discharge} (Physiol.), the increased secretion
   from a gland resulting from the cutting of all of its
   nerves.

\Dis*charge"\, 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.

\Dis*charge"\, 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.