Definition of "Charity"

By Gis and by Saint Charity, / Alack, and fie for shame!

c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, [Act IV, scene v]

Never did any woman better deserve her name, which was Charity — Aunt Charity, as everybody called her. And like a sister of charity did this charitable Aunt Charity bustle about hither and thither, ready to turn her hand and heart to anything that promised to yield safety, comfort, and consolation to all on board a ship in which her beloved brother Bildad was concerned, and in which she herself owned a score or two of well-saved dollars.

1851 November 14, Herman Melville, chapter 20, in Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley

Tessa giggled. 'What a dreadful name! Is she really called Charity?''Yes. She really is.' Mark recalled how glorious the name of Charity had sounded to him in the beginning. 'It's not her fault she's called Charity,' he added defensively.

1989, Ann Oakley, The Men's Room, Atheneum, page 223