Alternatively, someone appeared and charged the battery. Same image, text interpreted differently. It’s a little study in collocations — material that frequently cooccurs (while falling short of being a stock expression): rhinos charge, people charge batteries. Here, in overlapping fashion, producing a wonderful pun in this Scott Hilburn cartoon:
Collocated with subject rhino, the verb charge is especially congenial to NOAD‘s sense 5b; collocated with direct object vehicle, to sense 4a — and here you get them both (rhinos are famous, of course, for never going on the road without booster cables; they are always ready to charge)
(Alerted to this Hilburn cartoon — new to me — this morning by Ellen Kaisse. There is a Page on this blog about my postings on Hilburn’s cartoons.)
The NOAD entry for the verb charge in almost complete detail, showing the great range of its senses and uses — making it a rich source of puns:
verb charge: [with object] 1 [a] demand (an amount) as a price from someone for a service rendered or goods supplied: [with two objects]: he charged me 2 euros for the postcard | the restaurant charged $15 for dinner | [no object]:museums should charge for admission. [b] (charge something to) record the cost of something as an amount payable by (someone) or on (an account): they charge the calls to their credit card accounts. 2 [a] accuse (someone) of something, especially an offense under law: they were charged with assault. [b] [with clause] make an accusation or assertion that: opponents charged that below-cost pricing would reduce safety. [c] Law accuse someone of (an offense): they filed a lawsuit charging fraud and breach of contract. 3 entrust (someone) with a task as a duty or responsibility: the committee was charged with reshaping the educational system. 4 [a] store electrical energy in (a battery or battery-operated device): the shaver can be charged up and used while traveling. [b] [no object] (of a battery or battery-operated device) receive and store electrical energy. [c] load or fill (a container, gun, etc.) to the full or proper extent: see to it that your glasses are charged. [d] fill or pervade (something) with a quality or emotion: the air was charged with menace. 5 [no object] [a] rush forward in attack: the plan is to charge headlong at the enemy. [b] rush aggressively toward (someone or something) in attack: I don’t advise anyone to charge that barricade. [c] [with adverbial of direction] move quickly and with impetus: Henry charged up the staircase.
5b: rush aggressively toward (someone or something) in attack; vs. 4a: store electrical energy in (a battery or battery-operated device). Rhinos charge vs. charge a battery.