different between discharge vs death

English

Etymology

From Middle English dischargen, from Anglo-Norman descharger and Old French deschargier (“to unload”), from Late Latin discarric? (“I unload”), equivalent to dis- +? charge.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation)
  • (verb) IPA^(key): /d?s?t???d?/
  • (noun) IPA^(key): /?d?st???d?/
• (US)
  • (verb) enPR: d?schärj', IPA^(key): /d?s?t???d?/
  • (noun) enPR: d?s'chärj, IPA^(key): /?d?st???d?/

Verb

discharge (third-person singular simple present discharges, present participle discharging, simple past and past participle discharged)

1. To accomplish or complete, as an obligation.
   • 1610, The Tempest, by Shakespeare, act 3 scene 1

     O most dear mistress, / The sun will set before I shall discharge / What I must strive to do.

2. To free of a debt, claim, obligation, responsibility, accusation, etc.; to absolve; to acquit; to forgive; to clear.
3. To send away (a creditor) satisfied by payment; to pay one's debt or obligation to.
4. To set aside; to annul; to dismiss.
5. To expel or let go.
   • January 1, 1878, Herbert Spencer, Ceremonial Government, published in The Fortnightly Review No. 132

     Feeling in other cases discharges itself in indirect muscular actions.

6. To let fly, as a missile; to shoot.
   • Mrs Partridge, upon this, immediately fell into a fury, and discharged the trencher on which she was eating, at the head of poor Jenny […]

7. (electricity) To release (an accumulated charge).
8. To relieve of an office or employment; to send away from service; to dismiss.

   Synonyms: fire, let go, terminate; see also Thesaurus:lay off

   1. (medicine) To release (an inpatient) from hospital.
   2. (military) To release (a member of the armed forces) from service.
9. To release legally from confinement; to set at liberty.

10. To operate (any weapon that fires a projectile, such as a shotgun or sling).

    • discharge his pieces

    • 1918, Edgar Rice Burroughs, The Land That Time Forgot Chapter IV

      I ran forward, discharging my pistol into the creature's body in an effort to force it to relinquish its prey; but I might as profitably have shot at the sun.

11. (logic) To release (an auxiliary assumption) from the list of assumptions used in arguments, and return to the main argument.
12. To unload a ship or another means of transport.
13. To put forth, or remove, as a charge or burden; to take out, as that with which anything is loaded or filled.

14. To give forth; to emit or send out.

15. To let fly; to give expression to; to utter.

16. (transitive, textiles) To bleach out or to remove or efface, as by a chemical process.

17. (obsolete, Scotland) To prohibit; to forbid.

Translations

Noun

discharge (countable and uncountable, plural discharges)

1. (medicine, uncountable) Pus or exudate (other than blood) from a wound or orifice, usually due to infection or pathology.
2. The act of accomplishing (an obligation) or repaying a debt etc.; performance.
   • 1610, The Tempest, by Shakespeare, act 2 scene 1

     Whereof what's past is prologue, what to come / In yours and my discharge.

3. The act of expelling or letting go.
4. The act of firing a projectile, especially from a firearm.

   Synonym: firing

5. The process of unloading something.
6. The process of flowing out.
7. (electricity) The act of releasing an accumulated charge.
8. (medicine) The act of releasing an inpatient from hospital.
9. (military) The act of releasing a member of the armed forces from service.
10. (hydrology) The volume of water transported by a river in a certain amount of time, usually in units of m³/s (cubic meters per second).

Translations

English

Alternative forms

• deth (obsolete)

Etymology

From Middle English deeth, from Old English d?aþ, from Proto-West Germanic *dauþu, from Proto-Germanic *dauþuz (compare West Frisian dead, Dutch dood, German Tod, Swedish död), from Proto-Indo-European *d?ówtus. Equivalent to die +? -th. More at die.

Pronunciation

• enPR: d?th, IPA^(key): /d??/
• Rhymes: -??
• (West Country) IPA^(key): /di??/
• Homophones: debt (with th-stopping), deaf (with th-fronting)

Noun

death (countable and uncountable, plural deaths)

2. The cessation of life and all associated processes; the end of an organism's existence as an entity independent from its environment and its return to an inert, nonliving state.
   1. Execution (in the judicial sense).

3. (often capitalized) The personification of death as a hooded figure with a scythe; the Grim Reaper. The pronoun he is not the only option, but probably the most traditional one, as it matches with the male grammatical gender of Old English d?aþ, also with cognate German der Tod. The fourth apocalyptic rider (Bible, revelations 6:8) is male ???????? (thanatos) in Greek. It has the female name Mors in Latin, but is referred to with male forms qui and eum. The following quotes show this rider on a pale horse is his in the English Bible and she in Peter Gabriel's lyrics.
4. (the death) The collapse or end of something.
   • 1983, Robert R. Faulkner, Music on Demand (page 90)

     He may even find himself being blamed if the project dies a quick and horrible death at the box office or is unceremoniously axed by the network.

   1. (figuratively, especially followed by of-phrase) A cause of great stress, exhaustion, embarrassment, or another negative condition (for someone).

5. (figuratively) Spiritual lifelessness.

Synonyms

• See also Thesaurus:death

Derived terms

Pages starting with “death”.

Translations

See also

Further reading

• The Definition of Death - Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy

Anagrams

• Theda, hated