exchequer
noun
a treasury, as of a state or nation.
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exchequer
American
[eks-chek-er, iks-chek-er]
/ ˈɛks tʃɛk ər, ɪksˈtʃɛk ər /
noun
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a treasury, as of a state or nation.
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(in Great Britain)
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(often initial capital letter) the governmental department in charge of the public revenues.
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(formerly) an office administering the royal revenues and determining all cases affecting them.
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Also called Court of Exchequer. (initial capital letter) an ancient common-law court of civil jurisdiction in which cases affecting the revenues of the crown were tried, now merged in the King's Bench Division of the High Court.
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Informal. one's financial resources; funds.
I'd love to go, but the exchequer is a bit low.
exchequer
1
British
/ ɪksˈtʃɛkə /
noun
-
(often capital) government (in Britain and certain other countries) the accounting department of the Treasury, responsible for receiving and issuing funds
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informal personal funds; finances
Exchequer
2
British
/ ɪksˈtʃɛkə /
noun
Etymology
Origin of exchequer
1250–1300; Middle English escheker, eschequier < Anglo-French escheker, eschekier ( Old French eschequier ) chessboard, counting table. See checker 1
Explanation
Exchequer is a British term for the individual in the government who is in charge of the money: the treasurer. Sometimes it refers to the office in which all the money is kept, the treasury itself. If you follow British government, you may have noticed that although they have a democracy much like ours, some things are very different. One of them is that the person in the government who is in charge of the government's finances, the Treasury Secretary, is called the Chancellor of the Exchequer. The word has been around for a long time. There were exchequers in medieval England, back when exchequer offices worked for kings.
Vocabulary lists containing exchequer
My Brother Sam is Dead
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The Merry Wives of Windsor
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Henry IV, Part 1
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
In one, Mr. Mandelson offers details of a conversation between Larry Summers, then director of the National Economic Council, and Alistair Darling, Britain’s chancellor of the Exchequer.
From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 4, 2026
That leaves big tax increases, which Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves unveiled Wednesday in a new budget plan.
From The Wall Street Journal • Nov. 26, 2025
Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves faces some tough choices on Wednesday when she sets out a budget that strives to narrow the country’s fiscal gap without damaging growth.
From MarketWatch • Nov. 26, 2025
Dame Annette Brooke never fulfilled a childhood ambition to be the first female Chancellor of the Exchequer, but as a campaigning Liberal Democrat she made a distinctive contribution to local and national public life.
From BBC • Aug. 21, 2025
The English Exchequer used to keep accounts on a variant of the tally stick until 1826.
From "Zero: The Biography of a Dangerous Idea" by Charles Seife
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
