trans. [f. CHARTER sb.1]
1. trans. To grant a charter to; to bestow or establish by charter.
c. 1425. Wyntoun, Cron., IX. xxiii. 210. Þe thred Robert, charterit, and sesit eftyrwart … þat Lady.
1800. Colquhoun, Comm. Thames, i. 5. The Russia Company … was chartered … in 1555.
1859. C. Barker, Assoc. Princ. Mid. Ages, ii. 48. Early in the reign of Edward III.,… we find the Goldsmiths’ Company chartered.
2. To privilege, license.
1542. Udall, trans. Erasm. Apoph., 255 b. He was … chartreed or priuileged from bearyng almaner offices of charge.
1795. Southey, Joan of Arc, X. 719. If discipline be utterly Relax’d, Vice charter’d, Wickedness let loose.
1879. Geo. Eliot, Coll. Breakf. P., 795. With spreading lands Where pleasure charters all.
3. To hire (a ship) by charter-party. Hence colloq. to hire (a vehicle, etc.).
1806. Gazetteer Scotl., 217/1. They had no vessels of their own, but chartered vessels from Whitehaven, Bristol.
1836. W. Irving, Astoria, III. 215. It was impossible to charter a ship for the purpose.
1869. ‘Wat. Bradwood’ The O. V. H. (1870), 191. To charter a dogcart for the afternoon.
1875. J. H. Bennet, Winter Medit., IV. xxi. 638. A carriage may be chartered for a given journey at a certain price.
Hence Chartering vbl. sb.
1817. Jas. Mill, Brit. India, II. IV. i. 7. The Company preferred the hiring of ships, called chartering.
1883. Pall Mall Gaz., 9 July, 5/2. Chartering limited to sailing vessels.
