symbol used in writing, printing or on computers ( 4$

Chinese

characters EE'ff 0 a line 30 characters long 30 (ft—‘fx — picture o ideogram

IBTB1 in character | ,out of character typical/not typical of a person’s character W'a ( A Wft ) 3£A.(ft '14  :         Her behaviour last night was completely out of

character. M^B&(ft#ltHM(ft14f&IIMAff o ,in 'char­acter (with sth) in the same style as sth (%•••) ft]:        The new wing of the museum was not really in

character with the rest of the building, t# $Jtff Tl (ft fW If

character actor noun an actor who always takes the parts of interesting or unusual people       p M

'character code noun (computing if) a combination of numbers that is used to represent a particular letter, number or symbol

characterful /'kaeraktafl; NAmE -tarfl/ adj. very inter­esting and unusual fMA'ilJi^A^'feEft char ac ter is tic 0-w /.kaerakta'ristik/ adj., noun £ adj. - (of sth/sb) very typical of sth or of sb’s character :&M£ft; !&#Eft; ^^(ft: She spoke with characteristic enthusiasm. Mifei|ff|?ir#^Eft^11fo EG33uncharac­teristic ► char ac teristic al ly adv. :          Characteristic­

ally, Helen paid for everyone. ^f£&MM1ft#(ftfft'A, A

#-AAttTlt

noun ~ (of sth/sb) a typical feature or quality that sth/sb has #|iE; #,&; ppM: The need to communicate is a key characteristic of human society,

4fc£.ii:$fc(ft—0 The two groups of children have quite different characteristics. HMMJLli A #11 Aftl(ft#Ho O Personal characteristics, such as age and sex are taken into account. A A (ft # fiE,       A M fn 14 M

o 0 genetic characteristics

characterization [BrE also -isation) /,kaerak- tarai'zeijn/ noun [U, C] 1 the way that a writer makes characters in a book or play seem real (      A

A#J(ft ) MM,   Mia 2 (format) the way in which

sb/sth is described or defined J& A A ; I?- M A fe H771 portrayal:  the characterization of physics as the

study of simplicity     A—

m'*\

characterize (BrE also -ise) /'kaeraktaraiz/ verb [vn] (format) 1 to be typical of a person, place or thing Ji--- (ft # ft; iff--'A MM: the rolling hills that characterize this part of England $ ft  AH/ fife K#'ft $ S£MfK

EftJx|£.itfe 2 [often passive] to give sth its typical or most noticeable qualities or features {<1      ( iJcJI'jIA

ft f! (ft# ft ) : The city is characterized by tall modem buildings in steel and glass.

3 ~ sb/sth (as sth) to

describe or show the qualities of sb/sth in a particular

wayfgft, MM, ( •••W!l#ft, #4 ) : activities that are characterized as ‘male’ or female’ work

ft.“l!14” &

characterless /'kaeraktalas; NAmE -tarlas/ adj. having no interesting qualities A#ft(ft; AA14(ft; A:J4fft 'character recognition noun [u] the ability of a computer to read numbers or letters that are printed or written by hand

sR-f )

cha rade /Ja*raid; NAmE Ja'reid/ noun 1 [C] a situation in which people pretend that sth is true when it clearly is not IfliHTfl pretence : Their whole marriage had been a charade—they had

never loved each other, fife il l Eft i? A ^ Ji ZE f$  

2 charades [U] a game in which one player acts out the syllables of a word or title and the other players try to guess what it is JJ ® ij$ fj# A W     :

Let’s play charades.  Aifi^Bo

char-broil /'tjcubrail; NAmE 'tja:r-/ verb [VN] to cook meat or other food over charcoal   ^ #

m)

char-coal /'tjaikaul; NAmE 'tjairkoul/ noun [u] 1 a black substance made by burning wood slowly in an oven with little air. Charcoal is used as a fuel or for drawing. M, A#c (  ) : charcoal grilled steaks

I 319

o a charcoal drawing M^Wb 2 (also .charcoal ‘grey) a very dark grey colour MfkEi

chard /tja:d; NAmE tjaird/ (also .Swiss 'chard) noun [U] a vegetable with thick white stems and large leaves

mm-, mm

Char-don-nay /'Jaidanei; NAmE ‘Jaird-/ noun [u, C] a type of white wine, or the type of grape from which it is made

charge On* /tja:d3; NAmEtSairdff noun, verb

#noun

                 MONEY -f£ 1 [C, U] ~ (for sth) the amount of money that

sb asks for goods and services ( $[ pp ffl HU # Jjjjljr ^ ) S£ ffr , iBc H :   We have to make a small charge for

refreshments. 3% fft o 0 admission

charges Ai^/H <> Delivery is free of charge.  o

o note at rate 2 [C, U] (NAmE, informal) '>=» charge account, credit account: Would you like to put that on your charge?  o

‘Are you paying cash?’ ‘No, it’ll be a charge.’

iS«„ ”

                 OF CRIME/STH WRONG f fj ; HA 3 [C, U] an official

claim made by the police that sb has committed a crime ^ A :       criminal charges JPJ ^ ^ S a

murder/an assault charge il^^Eft / <>

He will be sent back to England to face a charge of (= to be on trial for) armed robbery.

0 They decided to drop the charges against the newspaper and settle out of court, fife Cl £ A

o After being

questioned by the police, she was released without charge.    4 [C] a statement

accusing sb of doing sth wrong or bad ft 5if; ijt JfC allegation: She rejected the charge that the story was untrue.      flfe^S0 Be careful you

don’t leave yourself open to charges of political bias.

                 RESPONSIBILITY CH /Ji 5 [U] a position of having control

over sb/sth; responsibility for sb/sth   ^ W; M

W ; IH 1a ; ft (i :       She has charge of the day-to-day

mnning of the business. £ifeAlt#1f0#ife#o 0 They left the au pair in charge of the children for a week, fife fll fE A S  $CT (ft M 44—Mi o o He took charge of

the farm after his father’s death. ftfe&      T

o I’m leaving the school in your charge. f    o 6 [C] (formal or humorous) a person

that you have responsibility for and care for M M If Eft A; &JRW#

                 ELECTRICITY ft 7 [C, U] the amount of electricity that is put into a battery or carried by a substance ( 4 fife

) Aftiit, ffeW: a positive/negative charge

                 RUSH/ATTACK ; Xftifj 8 [C] a sudden rush or violent

attack, for example by soldiers, wild animals or players in some sports % M ffi ?t; S       H :   He led the

charge down the field. ftfe^A'/S^^^/t^HAc

                 EXPLOSIVE i\- l 9 [C] the amount of explosive needed to fire a gun or make an explosion (

(ft ) i$%jM — see also depth charge

                 STRONG FEELING ® A 'If. 10 [sing.] the power to cause

strong feelings  lift:  the emotional charge

of the piano piece SP^#(I^ft4DA>C'^(ft^^A

                 TASK ft # 11 [sing.] (formal) a task or duty ftffft: His charge was to obtain specific information, fife6ftft#

ITSTOl bring/press/prefer charges against sb (law W)

to accuse sb formally of a crime so that there can be a trial in court        A get a ’charge out of sth

(NAmE) to get a strong feeling of excitement or pleasure from sth        )

verb

                 MONEY 1 ~ (sb/sth) for sth | ~ (sb) sth (for sth) to ask

an amount of money for goods or a service i|£ ( ) ;

( ft] ••• ) Sc :   [VN] What did they charge for the

repairs? fifeC^T^ Af^S^? b The restaurant charged £20 for dinner. H M # t! & 7 20 ^ ® # H o <>

We won’t charge you for delivery. f| ] H ® A *14 ^ „ O They’re charging £3 for the catalogue. fM](ftHfMnp @