Wiktionary

overcharge

English

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Etymology

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From Middle English overchargen, equivalent to over- +‎ charge.

Verb

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overcharge (third-person singular simple present overcharges, present participle overcharging, simple past and past participle overcharged)

  1. (transitive, intransitive) To charge (somebody) more money than the correct amount or to surpass a certain limit while charging a bill.
  2. (transitive) To continue to charge (an electrical device) beyond its capacity.
  3. To charge (someone) with an inflated number or degree of legal charges (for example, charging them with a more serious crime than was committed); to upcharge.
    • 2015, Randall G. Shelden, William B. Brown, Karen S. Miller, Randal B. Fritzler, Crime and Criminal Justice in American Society: Second Edition, Waveland Press, →ISBN, page 184:
      The police, fully aware of the reality of plea bargaining, often overcharge (if they don't, then the prosecutor does). The police also may overcharge in order to develop informants.
    • 2018, Paul H. Robinson, Sarah Robinson, Shadow Vigilantes: How Distrust in the Justice System Breeds a New Kind of Lawlessness: Section III. The Subversions and Perversions of Shadow Vigilantism‎[1]:
      Shadow vigilantism can also be seen in the conduct of officials within the system who feel morally justified in subverting the system because they see it as regularly and indifferently producing failures of justice. […] It’s also apparent in police “testilying” to subvert search and seizure technicalities (and judicial toleration of it) and in prosecutorial overcharging to compensate for past perceived justice failures.
    • 2022 July 21, Daniel Walters, “Spokane County Prosecutor Larry Haskell finds himself under attack from three fronts”, in The Inlander‎[2]:
      "It's about decades of an office that overcharges and oversentences but keeps getting worse results," Conklin says.
  4. (transitive, dated) To charge or load too heavily; to burden; to oppress.
    • c. 1611, Walter Raleigh, Observations on the Navy and Sea Service:
      it serves to no better use but only to labour and overcharge the ships' sides in any grown seas and foul weather.
  5. (transitive, dated) To fill too full; to crowd.
    • October 22, 1706, Alexander Pope, letter to Mr. Walsh
      Our language is naturally overcharged with consonants.
    • 1889, Paul F. Munde/, The American Journal of Obstetrics and Diseases of Women and Children; volume 22 issue 1, page 516:
      The result is that the veins become overcharged with blood, and we are taught by physiology that wherever there is overcharge of the venous circulation there results supernutrition, and primarily from that there develops new connective tissue.
  6. (transitive, dated) To exaggerate.
    to overcharge a description

Antonyms

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Translations

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Noun

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overcharge (plural overcharges)

  1. An excessive load or burden.
  2. An excessive charge in an account.
  3. Any amount erroneously charged to a customer above the correct price for a product or service.
    • 1998 January 8, The Dealership (Seinfeld), season 9, episode 11, spoken by Puddy:
      I just left out a couple of things. Rust-proofing, transport charge, storage surcharge, additional overcharge, finder's fee, […] floor mats, keys […]

Translations

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