Also 6–7 charte, (charde). [a. OF. charte card, map, etc.:—L. carta, charta ‘paper, leaf of paper,’ later also ‘card, chart, map,’ etc. Charte was the native Fr. repr. of L. carta; but already in 14th c. the It. equivalent carta was introduced for a ‘playing-card,’ in the adapted form carte, which was gradually extended by the 17th c. to all senses of the native charte, and at length superseded it. Carte gave the Eng. CARTE and carde, CARD (q.v.), both used in 15–17th c. in the sense of ‘chart, map’; but late in the 16th c. charte was introduced in this sense, for which it became the accepted term. Branches II. III. represent mod.F. carte and L. charta.]
I. A map or chart.
1. A map. Obs. in the general sense.
1571. Digges, Pantom., I. xxxiv. L j b. One fayre carde or mappe. Ibid., xxxv. L ij b. Appoynting the lengthe of your myle according as you desire to haue your charte great or small. Ibid., L iij. Diuide the circle at the myddes of your map into 32 partes, pulling out straight lines fro the centre to the vttermost bounds of the charte.
1625. N. Carpenter, Geog. Del., I. vii. 167. The Geographicall Mappe is twofold: either the Plaine Chart, or the Planispheare.
1678. Phillips, Chart, also a Map or other Draught.
1751. Chambers, Cycl., s.v., Plain Charts are those wherein the meridians and parallels are exhibited by right lines parallel to each other.
1828. J. H. Moore, Pract. Navig., 97. Mr. Gerrard Mercator, a Fleming, in 1556 published a similar chart … whence called Mercator’s Chart.
b. spec. (short for sea-chart): A map for the use of navigators; a delineation of a portion of the sea, indicating the outline of the coasts, the position of rocks, sandbanks, channels, anchorages, etc. Also fig.; and in comb., as chart-box, -wright.
1696. Phillips, Chart, or Cart, a Sea-Cart.
1697. Dampier, Voy. (1698), I. xvi. 443. I do not find it set down on any Sea Chart.
1704. J. Harris, Lex. Techn., Chart, is a Draught projected for the use of Seamen, discovering the Sea-coasts, Sands, Rocks.
1751. Johnson, Rambl., No. 174, ¶ 1. He … ought to make some improvements in the chart of life, by marking the rocks on which he has been dashed.
1796. Pegge, Anonym. (1809), 35. The Doctor … was apt to be offended if any one called his work a Map: he would have it called a Chart; and yet in strictness I think it cannot be called so, since we have appropriated this word to Sea-affairs.
1821. Scott, Kenilw., xxi. A chart … points out … the peculiarities of his navigation.
1854. Adm. Smyth, Mediterranean, 334 (L.). The more recent plans … reveal the awful neglect of our modern chart-wrights.
1860. Emerson, Cond. Life, Wealth, Wks. (Bohn), II. 349. Our navigation is safer for the chart.
1878. Huxley, Physiogr., 5. We commonly speak of the plan of an estate, the map of a country, the chart of an ocean.
c. An outline map for other than purely geographical purposes, as a magnetic chart, chart of temperature; also, a plan of military operations, or the route of an expedition; an itinerary.
1580. North, Plutarch, 307. He was not … contented to see them [battles] drawn … in Charts and Maps.
1675. Ogilby, Brit., Ded. These Peutingerian Military Charts … appear too faint a Resemblance.
1837. W. Irving, Capt. Bonneville, II. 56. Making maps or charts of his route.
1872. Yeats, Techn. Hist. Comm., 409. Magnetic charts … present, at one view, the variations and dip of the needle for all parts of the world.
2. A graphical representation (by means of curves or the like) of the fluctuations of any variable magnitude, such as temperature, barometric pressure, prices, population, etc.
1880. Mac Cormac, Antisept. Surg., 228. The temperature chart, fig. 42, is interesting.
Mod. A barometric chart.
3. A sheet bearing information of any kind arranged in a tabular form.
1840. (title) Gentone’s Chart of Inheritance.
1846. (title) Historical Chart of the Sovereigns of England.
1851. (title) Genealogical Chart of the Descent of Queen Victoria.
b. transf. and fig.
1792. S. Rogers, Pleas. Mem., I. 57. The screen unfolds its many coloured chart.
1856. Dove, Logic Chr. Faith, II. § 2. 114. [When] we turn to the Social World of men, the pantheistic chart is folded up.
1863. Bright, Sp. Amer., 3 Feb. A chart of the condition of Europe.
1876. Gladstone, in Contemp. Rev., June, 26. This rude chart of religious thought.
Mod. ‘Not a portrait, a mere chart of his face.’
II. In other senses of F. carte, OF. charte.
† 4. Blank chart (= OF. charte blanche, mod.F. carte blanche): a blank paper to be filled up at discretion. Obs.
1707. Chart Blanch; 1712 Charte Blanche (see CARTE BLANCHE).
1711. P. H., Impartial View of 2 late Parlts., 247. The Necessity of sending, almost, a blank Chart to the Treaty.
† 5. = CARD sb.2 in several senses: a. An ordinary card. b. A playing-card. c. The compass-card.
a. 1680. Butler, Rem. (1759), I. 227. And practis’d all the Tricks upon the Charts.
1704–32. Gentleman Instruct., 412 (D.). The discovery of the chart is but of late standing, tho’ of great importance.
1753. Chambers, Cycl. Supp., s.v. Compass, The mariner’s compass with a chart, is much less dangerously moved than the common compass with a bare needle.
1796. H. Brougham, in Phil. Trans., LXXXVI. 241. One of the brightest [rays] … fell on the chart.
III. = L. charta in mediæval senses.
† 6. A charter, grant, title-deed; a deed or document of any kind. Obs.
1616. Bullokar, Chart, a writing, a written deed.
1656. Blount, Glossogr., Chart, paper, parchment or anything to write on; also a writing or written deed.
1673. Sir P. Leycester, Hist. Antiq., II. Proleg. Some other Chartes of this Hugh I have met withal.
1775. T. Warton, Hist. Eng. Poetry, Dissert. ii. 2. A series of royal charts or instruments. Ibid., 74. Hebrew rolls and charts, relating to their estates in England … are now … in the Tower.
