surcharge
Noun · VerbOpen English WordNet
Noun (1)
- an additional charge (as for items previously omitted or as a penalty for failure to exercise common caution or common skill)Type of chargeKinds single supplement
Verb (7)surcharged, surcharging
- charge an extra fee, as for a special serviceMore general charge, bill
- rip off; ask an unreasonable priceSynonyms: overchargesoakgazumpfleeceplumepluckrobhookMore general cheat, rip offMore specific extort, squeezeInvolves charge, bill
- fill to capacity with people“The air raids had surcharged the emergency wards”More general overcrowd
- print a new denomination on a stamp or a banknoteMore general overprint, print over
- fill to an excessive degree“The air was surcharged with tension”More general fill, fill up
- place too much a load on“don't overload the car”Synonyms: overloadoverchargeMore general load, lade
- show an omission in (an account) for which credit ought to have been given
What does it mean? Question 1 of today’s quiz
Webster's Dictionary (1913)
Origin: F. surcharger. See Sur-, and Charge, and cf. Overcharge, Supercharge, Supercargo.
1. To overload; to overburden; to overmatch; to overcharge; as, to surcharge a beast or a ship; to surcharge a cannon.
Four charged two, and two surcharged one.— Edmund Spenser
Your head reclined, as hiding grief from view, Droops like a rose surcharged with morning dew.— John Dryden
2. Law (a) To overstock; especially, to put more cattle into, as a common, than the person has a right to do, or more than the herbage will sustain. Blackstone. (b) Equity To show an omission in (an account) for which credit ought to have been given. Story. Daniel.
3. To print or write a surcharge on (a postage stamp).
Origin: F.
1. An overcharge; an excessive load or burden; a load greater than can well be borne.
A numerous nobility causeth poverty and inconvenience in a state, for it is surcharge of expense.— Francis, Baron Verulam Bacon
2. Law (a) The putting, by a commoner, of more beasts on the common than he has a right to. (b) Equity The showing an omission, as in an account, for which credit ought to have been given. Alexander Mansfield. Burrill
3. Railroads A charge over the usual or legal rates.
4. Something printed or written on a postage stamp to give it a new legal effect, as a new valuation, a place, a date, etc.; also (colloquial), a stamp with a surcharge.
Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913), from GCIDE 0.54 · with additions: 1913 supplement