discharge

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

• intransitive verb To release, as from confinement, care, or duty.
• intransitive verb To let go; empty out.
• intransitive verb To pour forth; emit.
• intransitive verb To shoot.
• intransitive verb To remove from office or employment. synonym: dismiss.
• intransitive verb To perform the obligations or demands of (an office, duty, or task).
• intransitive verb To comply with the terms of (a debt or promise, for example).
• intransitive verb Law To release from debt, as in bankruptcy.
• intransitive verb To remove (color) from cloth, as by chemical bleaching.
• intransitive verb Electricity To cause the release of stored energy or electric charge from (a battery, for example).
• intransitive verb To apportion (weight) evenly, as over a door.
• intransitive verb To relieve (a part) of excess weight by distribution of pressure.
• intransitive verb To clear the record of the loan of (a returned library book).
• intransitive verb To relieve (a ship, for example) of a burden or of contents; unload.
• intransitive verb To unload or empty (contents).
• intransitive verb To go off; fire.
• intransitive verb To pour forth, emit, or release contents.
• intransitive verb To become blurred, as a color or dye; run.
• intransitive verb To undergo the release of stored energy or electric charge.
• intransitive verb To get rid of a burden, load, or weight.
• noun The act of shooting or firing a projectile or weapon.
• noun A flowing out or pouring forth; emission; secretion.
• noun The amount or rate of emission or ejection.
• noun Something that is discharged, released, emitted, or excreted.
• noun The act or an instance of removing an obligation, burden, or responsibility.
• noun Fulfillment of the terms of something, such as a debt or promise.
• noun Performance, as of an office or duty.
• noun Dismissal or release from employment, service, care, or confinement.
• noun An official document certifying such release, especially from military service.
• noun Release of stored energy in a capacitor by the flow of current between its terminals.
• noun Conversion of chemical energy to electric energy in a storage battery.
• noun A flow of electricity in a dielectric, especially in a rarefied gas.
• noun Elimination of net electric charge from a charged body.
• noun The act of removing a load or burden.

from The Century Dictionary.

• noun The act of unloading or disburdening; relief from a burden or charge: as, the discharge of a ship.
• noun Specifically The act of firing a missile weapon, as a bow by drawing and releasing the string, or a gun by exploding the charge of powder.
• noun The act of removing or taking away; removal, as of a burden or load, by physical means, or by settlement, payment, fulfilment, etc.: as, the discharge of a cargo, of a debt, or of an obligation.
• noun A flowing out; emission; vent: as, the discharge of water from a river or from an orifice, of blood from a wound, of lightning from a cloud.
• noun The act of freeing; dismissal; release or dismissal from accusation, restraint, obligation, duty, or service; also, a certificate of such release or dismissal: as, the discharge of a prisoner, of a debtor, or of a servant.
• noun The rate of flowing out: as, the discharge is 100 gallons a minute.
• noun That which is thrown out; matter emitted: as, a thin serous discharge; a purulent discharge.
• noun Performance; execution: as, a good man is faithful in the discharge of his duties.