Definition of discharge

• v. t. - To relieve of a charge, load, or burden; to empty of a load or cargo; to unburden; to unload; as, to discharge a vessel.
• v. t. - 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.
• v. t. - To of something weighing upon or impeding over one, as a debt, claim, obligation, responsibility, accusation, etc.; to absolve; to acquit; to clear.
• v. t. - To relieve of an office or employment; to send away from service; to dismiss.
• v. t. - To release legally from confinement; to set at liberty; as, to discharge a prisoner.
• v. t. - 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.
• v. t. - To let fly, as a missile; to shoot.
• v. t. - To set aside; to annul; to dismiss.
• v. t. - 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.
• v. t. - To send away (a creditor) satisfied by payment; to pay one's debt or obligation to.
• v. t. - 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.
• v. t. - To prohibit; to forbid.
• 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.
• v. t. - 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.
• v. t. - Firing off; explosive removal of a charge; explosion; letting off; as, a discharge of arrows, of artillery.
• v. t. - 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.
• v. t. - 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.
• v. t. - Release or dismissal from an office, employment, etc.; dismission; as, the discharge of a workman by his employer.
• v. t. - Legal release from confinement; liberation; as, the discharge of a prisoner.
• v. t. - The state of being discharged or relieved of a debt, obligation, office, and the like; acquittal.
• v. t. - That which discharges or releases from an obligation, liability, penalty, etc., as a price of ransom, a legal document.
• v. t. - A flowing or issuing out; emission; vent; evacuation; also, that which is discharged or emitted; as, a rapid discharge of water from the pipe.