CHARLES

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does Charles mean? 

• CHARLES (noun)
  The noun CHARLES has 9 senses:

1. King of France from 1560 to 1574 whose reign was dominated by his mother Catherine de Medicis (1550-1574)

2. King of France who began his reign with most of northern France under English control; after the intervention of Jeanne d'Arc the French were able to defeat the English and end the Hundred Years' War (1403-1461)

3. as Charles II he was Holy Roman Emperor and as Charles I he was king of France (823-877)

4. King of England and Scotland and Ireland during the Restoration (1630-1685)

5. son of James I who was King of England and Scotland and Ireland; was deposed and executed by Oliver Cromwell (1600-1649)

6. the eldest son of Elizabeth II and heir to the English throne (born in 1948)

7. French physicist and author of Charles's law which anticipated Gay-Lussac's law (1746-1823)

8. king of the Franks and Holy Roman Emperor; conqueror of the Lombards and Saxons (742-814)

9. a river in eastern Massachusetts that empties into Boston Harbor and that separates Cambridge from Boston

  Familiarity information: CHARLES used as a noun is familiar.

 Dictionary entry details 

• CHARLES (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

King of France from 1560 to 1574 whose reign was dominated by his mother Catherine de Medicis (1550-1574)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Synonyms:

Charles; Charles IX

Instance hypernyms:

King of France (the sovereign ruler of France)

Sense 2

Meaning:

King of France who began his reign with most of northern France under English control; after the intervention of Jeanne d'Arc the French were able to defeat the English and end the Hundred Years' War (1403-1461)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Synonyms:

Charles; Charles VII

Instance hypernyms:

King of France (the sovereign ruler of France)

Sense 3

Meaning:

As Charles II he was Holy Roman Emperor and as Charles I he was king of France (823-877)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Synonyms:

Charles; Charles I; Charles II; Charles the Bald

Instance hypernyms:

Holy Roman Emperor (sovereign of the Holy Roman Empire)

King of France (the sovereign ruler of France)

Sense 4

Meaning:

King of England and Scotland and Ireland during the Restoration (1630-1685)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Synonyms:

Charles; Charles II

Instance hypernyms:

King of England; King of Great Britain (the sovereign ruler of England)

Derivation:

Carolean (of or relating to the life and times of kings Charles I or Charles II of England)

Sense 5

Meaning:

Son of James I who was King of England and Scotland and Ireland; was deposed and executed by Oliver Cromwell (1600-1649)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Synonyms:

Charles; Charles I; Charles Stuart

Instance hypernyms:

King of England; King of Great Britain (the sovereign ruler of England)

Derivation:

Carolean (of or relating to the life and times of kings Charles I or Charles II of England)

Sense 6

Meaning:

The eldest son of Elizabeth II and heir to the English throne (born in 1948)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Synonyms:

Charles; Prince Charles

Instance hypernyms:

Prince of Wales (the male heir apparent of the British sovereign)

Sense 7

Meaning:

French physicist and author of Charles's law which anticipated Gay-Lussac's law (1746-1823)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Synonyms:

Charles; Jacques Alexandre Cesar Charles; Jacques Charles

Instance hypernyms:

physicist (a scientist trained in physics)

Sense 8

Meaning:

King of the Franks and Holy Roman Emperor; conqueror of the Lombards and Saxons (742-814)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Synonyms:

Carolus; Charlemagne; Charles; Charles I; Charles the Great

Instance hypernyms:

Carlovingian; Carolingian (a member of the Carolingian dynasty)

Holy Roman Emperor (sovereign of the Holy Roman Empire)

Derivation:

Carolingian (of or relating to the Frankish dynasty founded by Charlemagne's father)

Sense 9

Meaning:

A river in eastern Massachusetts that empties into Boston Harbor and that separates Cambridge from Boston

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural objects (not man-made)

Synonyms:

Charles; Charles River

Instance hypernyms:

river (a large natural stream of water (larger than a creek))

Holonyms ("Charles" is a part of...):

Bay State; MA; Mass.; Massachusetts; Old Colony (a state in New England; one of the original 13 colonies)

 Context examples 

The men addressed each other as “Hal” and “Charles.”

(The Call of the Wild, by Jack London)

The Cavalier King Charles Spaniel is a small spaniel with dark, round eyes that are large but not prominent.

(Cavalier King Charles Spaniel, NCI Thesaurus)

The mutation that spawned the Hartley Hairless Guinea Pig was then re-derived at Charles River to restore thymus function while maintaining hairlessness.

(Hartley Albino Hairless Guinea Pig, NCI Thesaurus)

The Hartley guinea pig was imported from the Medical Research Council, Millhill, England, to Charles River in 1968 for propagation.

(Hartley Guinea Pig, NCI Thesaurus)

In this condition, he felt more incapable of finishing the Memorial than ever; and the harder he worked at it, the oftener that unlucky head of King Charles the First got into it.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

Charles River Laboratories currently disseminates gerbils for scientific research from stocks initially derived at Tumblebrook Farms (1995).

(Mongolian Gerbil, NCI Thesaurus)

Our cousin Charles has had experience of our friendship, the prince continued, and now, by the Saints! he shall feel a touch of our displeasure.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

I will go and tell Charles, and get ready directly.

(Persuasion, by Jane Austen)

It was here that Charles I. had collected his forces.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

Charles, when you build your house, I wish it may be half as delightful as Pemberley.

(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)