Charter, chärt′er, n. any formal writing in evidence of a grant, contract, or other transaction, conferring or confirming titles, rights, or privileges, or the like: the formal deed by which a sovereign guarantees the rights and privileges of his subjects, like the famous Mag′na Chart′a, signed by King John at Runnymede, 15th June 1215, or the Charte of Louis XVIII. at the Restoration in 1814, or that sworn by Louis-Philippe, 29th August 1830: any instrument by which powers and privileges are conferred by the state on a select body of persons for a special object, as the 'charter of a bank:' a patent: grant, allowance: immunity.—v.t. to establish by charter: to let or hire, as a ship, on contract.—p.adj. Chart′ered, granted or protected by a charter: privileged: licensed: hired by contract. [O. Fr. chartre—L. cartula, carta.]
Charterhouse, chärt′ėr-hows, n. a Carthusian monastery: the famous hospital and school instituted in London in 1611, on the site of a Carthusian monastery—now transferred—the 'masterpiece of Protestant English charity' in Fuller's phrase.—ns. Char′treuse, a Carthusian monastery, esp. the original one, the Grande Chartreuse near Grenoble in France: a famous liqueur, green, yellow, or white, long manufactured here by the monks from aromatic herbs and brandy: a kind of enamelled pottery: a pale greenish colour; Char′treux, a Carthusian: the Charterhouse School.
Charter-party, chärt′ėr-pär′ti, n. the common written form in which the contract of affreightment is expressed—viz. the hiring of the whole or part of a ship for the conveyance of goods. [Fr. charte-partie, lit. a divided charter, as the practice was to divide it in two and give a half to each person. L. charta partīta.]
Chartism, chärt′izm, n. a movement in Great Britain for the extension of political power to the working-classes, rising out of widespread national distress and popular disappointment with the results of the Reform Bill of 1832—its programme, the 'People's Charter,' drawn up in 1838, with six points: (1) Manhood Suffrage; (2) Equal Electoral Districts; (3) Vote by Ballot; (4) Annual Parliaments; (5) Abolition of Property Qualification; and (6) Payment of Members of the House of Commons.—n. Chart′ist, a supporter of chartism.
Chartography. See Cartography.
Chartreuse, Chartreux. See Charterhouse.
Chartulary. Same as Cartulary.
Charwoman. See Chare.
Chary, chār′i, adj. sparing: cautious.—adv. Char′ily.—n. Char′iness. [A.S. cearig—cearu, care.]
Charybdis, kar-ib′dis, n. a dangerous whirlpool between Italy and Sicily, and opposite to Scylla, the two together providing a proverbial alternative of ruin hardly to be escaped.