Surcharge

5 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Surcharge \Sur*charge"\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Surcharged}; p.
     pr. & vb. n. {Surcharging}.] [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.
        [1913 Webster]


  
              Four charged two, and two surcharged one. --Spenser.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              Your head reclined, as hiding grief from view,
              Droops like a rose surcharged with morning dew.
                                                    --Dryden.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     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.
            [1913 Webster]
  
     3. To print or write a surcharge on (a postage stamp).
        [Webster 1913 Suppl.]

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Surcharge \Sur*charge"\, n. [F.]
     1. An overcharge; an excessive load or burden; a load greater
        than can well be borne.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              A numerous nobility causeth poverty and
              inconvenience in a state, for it is surcharge of
              expense.                              --Bacon.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     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. --Burrill.
            [1913 Webster]
  
     3. (Railroads) A charge over the usual or legal rates.
        [Webster 1913 Suppl.]
  
     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 (Colloq.), a stamp with a surcharge.
        [Webster 1913 Suppl.]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  surcharge
       n : an additional charge (as for items previously omitted or as
           a penalty for failure to exercise common caution or
           common skill)
       v 1: charge an extra fee, as for a special service
       2: rip off; ask an unreasonable price [syn: {overcharge}, {soak},
           {gazump}, {fleece}, {plume}, {pluck}, {rob}, {hook}]
          [ant: {undercharge}]
       3: fill to capacity with people; "The air raids had surcharged
          the emergency wards"
       4: print a new denomination on a stamp or a banknote
       5: fill to an excessive degree; "The air was surcharged with
          tension"
       6: place too much a load on; "don't overload the car" [syn: {overload},
           {overcharge}]
       7: show an omission in (an account) for which credit ought to
          have been given

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

  93 Moby Thesaurus words for "surcharge":
     bale, bleed, bleed white, burden, burdening, burthen, cargo,
     charge, charging, choke, clip, congest, congestion, cram, crowd,
     cumber, cumbrance, deadweight, doctor accounts, drag, drench,
     encumbrance, engorgement, exploit, exploitation, extortion, fleece,
     freight, garble accounts, glut, gluttonize, gorge, gouge, handicap,
     highway robbery, hold up, holdup, hyperemia, incubus, incumbency,
     jam, jam-pack, lading, load, loading, loan-sharking, millstone,
     oppression, overassessment, overbrimming, overburden, overcharge,
     overfeed, overfill, overflow, overfreight, overfullness, overlade,
     overload, overprice, overspill, overstuff, overtax, overtaxing,
     overweight, overweighting, pack, plethora, pressure, profiteer,
     repletion, saddling, salt, satiate, satiety, saturate, saturation,
     screw, shylocking, skin, soak, stick, sting, stuff, supercharge,
     superincumbency, supersaturate, supersaturation, surfeit, swindle,
     taxing, usury, victimize
  
  

From Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856) [bouvier]:

  SURCHARGE, chancery practice. When a bill is filed to open an account, 
  stated, liberty is sometimes given to the plaintiff to surcharge and falsify 
  such account. That is, to examine not only errors of fact, but errors of 
  law. 2 Atk. 112; 11 Wheat. 237; 2 Ves. 565. 
       2. "These terms, `surcharge,' and `falsify,'" says Mr. Justice Story, 1 
  Eq. Jur. Sec. 525, "have a distinct sense in the vocabulary of courts of 
  equity, a little removed from that, which they bear in the ordinary language 
  of common life. In the language of common life, we understand `surcharge' to 
  import an overcharge in quantity, or price, or degree, beyond what is just 
  and reasonable. In this sense, it is nearly equivalent to `falsify;' for 
  every item, which is not truly charged, as it should be, is false; and by 
  establishing such overcharge it is falsified. But, in the sense of courts of 
  equity, these words are used in contradistinction to each other. A surcharge 
  is appropriately applied to the balance of the whole account; and supposes 
  credits to be omitted, which ought to be allowed. A falsification applies to 
  some item in the debets; and supposes, that the item is wholly false, or in 
  some part erroneous. This distinction is taken notice of by Lord Hardwicke; 
  and the words used by him are so clear, that they supersede all necessity 
  for farther commentary. `Upon a liberty to the plaintiff to surcharge, and 
  falsify,' says he, `the onus probandi is always on the party having that 
  liberty; for the court takes it as a stated account, and establishes it. 
  But, if any of the parties can show an omission, for which credit ought to 
  be, that is, a surcharge, or if anything is inserted, that is a wrong 
  charge, he is at liberty to show it, and that is a falsification. But that 
  must be by proof on his side. And that makes a great difference between the 
  general cases of an open account, and were only [leave] to surcharge and 
  falsify; for such must be made out."