Part 181

Charr (?), n. See 1st Char.

||Char"ras (?), n. The gum resin of the hemp plant (Cannabis sativa). Same as Churrus. Balfour.

Charre (?), n. [LL. charrus a certain weight.] See Charge, n., 17.

Char"ry (?), a. [See 6th Char.] Pertaining to charcoal, or partaking of its qualities.

Chart (?), n. [A doublet of card: cf. F. charte charter, carte card. See Card, and cf. Charter.] 1. A sheet of paper, pasteboard, or the like, on which information is exhibited, esp. when the information is arranged in tabular form; as, an historical chart.

2. A map; esp., a hydrographic or marine map; a map on which is projected a portion of water and the land which it surrounds, or by which it is surrounded, intended especially for the use of seamen; as, the United States Coast Survey charts; the English Admiralty charts.

3. A written deed; a charter.

Globular chart, a chart constructed on a globular projection. See under Globular. -- Heliographic chart, a map of the sun with its spots. -- Mercator's chart, a chart constructed on the principle of Mercator's projection. See Projection. -- Plane chart, a representation of some part of the superficies of the globe, in which its spherical form is disregarded, the meridians being drawn parallel to each other, and the parallels of latitude at equal distances. -- Selenographic chart, a map representing the surface of the moon. -- Topographic chart, a minute delineation of a limited place or region.

Chart, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Charted.] To lay down in a chart; to map; to delineate; as, to chart a coast.

||Char"ta (?), n. [L., leaf of paper. See Chart.] (Law) (a) Material on which instruments, books, etc., are written; parchment or paper. (b) A charter or deed; a writing by which a grant is made. See Magna Charta.

Char*ta"ceous (?), a. [L. chartaceus. See Charta.] Resembling paper or parchment; of paper-like texture; papery.

||Charte (?), n. [F. See Chart.] The constitution, or fundamental law, of the French monarchy, as established on the restoration of Louis XVIII., in 1814.

Char"ter (?), n. [OF. chartre, F. chartre, charte, fr. L. chartula a little paper, dim. of charta. See Chart, Card.] 1. A written evidence in due form of things done or granted, contracts made, etc., between man and man; a deed, or conveyance. [Archaic]

2. An instrument in writing, from the sovereign power of a state or country, executed in due form, bestowing rights, franchises, or privileges.

The king [John, a.d. 1215], with a facility somewhat suspicious, signed and sealed the charter which was required of him. This famous deed, commonly called the "Great Charter," either granted or secured very important liberties and privileges to every order of men in the kingdom. Hume.

3. An act of a legislative body creating a municipal or other corporation and defining its powers and privileges. Also, an instrument in writing from the constituted authorities of an order or society (as the Freemasons), creating a lodge and defining its powers.

4. A special privilege, immunity, or exemption.

My mother, Who has a charter to extol her blood, When she does praise me, grieves me. Shak.

5. (Com.) The letting or hiring a vessel by special contract, or the contract or instrument whereby a vessel is hired or let; as, a ship is offered for sale or charter. See Charter party, below.

Charter land (O. Eng. Law), land held by charter, or in socage; bookland. -- Charter member, one of the original members of a society or corporation, esp. one named in a charter, or taking part in the first proceedings under it. -- Charter party [F. chartre partie, or charte partie, a divided charter; from the practice of cutting the instrument of contract in two, and giving one part to each of the contractors] (Com.), a mercantile lease of a vessel; a specific contract by which the owners of a vessel let the entire vessel, or some principal part of the vessel, to another person, to be used by the latter in transportation for his own account, either under their charge or his. -- People's Charter (Eng. Hist.), the document which embodied the demands made by the Chartists, so called, upon the English government in 1838.

Char"ter, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Chartered (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Chartering.] 1. To establish by charter.

2. To hire or let by charter, as a ship. See Charter party, under Charter, n.

Char"tered (?), a. 1. Granted or established by charter; having, or existing under, a charter; having a privilege by charter.

The sufficiency of chartered rights. Palfrey.

The air, a chartered libertine. Shak.

2. Hired or let by charter, as a ship.

Char"ter*er (?), n. One who charters; esp. one who hires a ship for a voyage.

Char"ter*house` (?), n. A well known public school and charitable foundation in the building once used as a Carthusian monastery (Chartreuse) in London.