charter

Alternative forms

• chartre (obsolete)

Etymology

From Middle English charter, chartre, borrowed from Old French chartre, from Latin chartula (diminutive of charta). See chart.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈtʃɑːtə/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈtʃɑɹɾɚ/
• Rhymes: -ɑː(ɹ)tə(ɹ)

Noun

charter (plural charters)

1. A document issued by some authority, creating a public or private institution, and defining its purposes and privileges.
2. A similar document conferring rights and privileges on a person, corporation etc.
3. A contract for the commercial leasing of a vessel, or space on a vessel.
4. The temporary hiring or leasing of a vehicle.
5. A deed (legal contract).
6. A special privilege, immunity, or exemption.
   • Shakespeare

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

7. (Britain, pejorative, in a noun phrase with another noun which is either an agent or action) a provision whose unintended consequence would be to encourage an undesirable activity
   • 2001 March 23, Clare Dyer "Stolen car ruling 'a thieves' charter'", The Guardian, London:

     In what Derbyshire police say amounts to a "thieves' charter," three judges ruled that because the car's identity had been changed it was impossible to trace the legal owner and therefore the person found in possession of it was entitled to keep it.

   • 2005 November 30, Stephen Foley "The market where 'caveat emptor' has become a charter for fraud" The Independent, London

Adjective

charter (not comparable)

1. Leased or hired.

Verb

charter (third-person singular simple present charters, present participle chartering, simple past and past participle chartered)

1. (transitive) To grant or establish a charter.
2. (transitive) To lease or hire something by charter.

Anagrams

• charret, chartre, rechart

Etymology

Borrowed from English charter.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ʃaʁ.tɛʁ/

Noun

charter m (plural charters)

1. a charter flight
2. a charter plane
3. a charter pilot

Further reading

• “charter” in le Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

Anagrams

• châtrer

Etymology

Borrowed from English charter.

Noun

charter m (invariable)

1. Charter plane or flight

Adjective

charter (invariable)

1. charter (attributive)

Etymology

Borrowed from English charter.

Noun

charter m (plural charteres)

1. A shuttlebus