checker

[ chek-er ]

/ ˈtʃɛk ər /

noun

a small, usually red or black disk of plastic or wood, used in playing checkers.

checkers,

Also called, British, draughts.(used with a singular verb) a game played by two persons, each with 12 playing pieces, on a checkerboard.
(in a regenerative furnace) loosely stacked brickwork through which furnace gases and incoming air are passed in turn, so that the heat of the exhaust is absorbed and later transferred to the incoming air.

a checkered pattern.

one of the squares of a checkered pattern.

verb (used with object)

to mark like a checkerboard.

to diversify in color; variegate.

to diversify in character; subject to alternations: Sorrow and joy have checkered his life.

Nearby words

Also British, che·quer.

Origin of checker

1250–1300; Middle English checker chessboard < Anglo-French escheker (by aphesis), equivalent to eschec check¹ + -er -er²

checker

[ chek-er ]

/ ˈtʃɛk ər /

noun

a person or thing that checks.

a cashier, as in a supermarket or cafeteria.

a person who checks coats, baggage, etc.

Origin of checker

First recorded in 1525–35; check¹ + -er¹

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for checkers

The higher your score, the more likely it is that you can lip-sync along to the “Checkers” Speech.
The World’s Toughest Political Quiz|Jeff Greenfield|December 31, 2014|DAILY BEAST
They played chess and checkers with him, let him watch soccer matches on TV and eventually gave him a radio.
Gilad Shalit’s Five Years in Gaza|Dan Ephron|October 19, 2012|DAILY BEAST
Three, in jump seats, were a combination of observers and checkers.
2010's Unsafe Skies|Clive Irving|December 30, 2010|DAILY BEAST
Thwarted Conquest: "I never said anything about checkers, old man!"
The Real Jersey Dictionary, Vol. 2|Jaimie Etkin|October 21, 2010|DAILY BEAST

A field divided into squares or checkers formed checky, and when divided into what are now called lozenges it became lozengy.
Heraldry for Craftsmen & Designers|William Henry St. John Hope
There was an accountant, the store clerk, two checkers who tallied ore brought up each shift.
Man of Many Minds|E. Everett Evans
By the way, checkers on ale-house doors originated, I have been told, in a curious circumstance.
Recollections of Old Liverpool|A Nonagenarian
You never can tell where a game of checkers will end, said Westy.
Roy Blakeley, Lost, Strayed or Stolen|Percy Keese Fitzhugh
The nails are jumped off in the same manner that men are jumped in the game of checkers.
School, Church, and Home Games|George O. Draper

British Dictionary definitions for checkers

checkers

/ (ˈtʃɛkəz) /

noun

(functioning as singular) US and Canadian a game for two players using a checkerboard and 12 checkers each. The object is to jump over and capture the opponent's pieces

checker

/ (ˈtʃɛkə) /

noun, verb

the usual US spelling of chequer

noun

textiles a variant spelling of chequer (def. 2)

US and Canadian any one of the 12 flat thick discs used by each player in the game of checkersAlso called (in Britain and certain other countries): draughtsman

checker

/ (ˈtʃɛkə) /

noun mainly US and Canadian

a cashier, esp in a supermarket

an attendant in a cloakroom, left-luggage office, etc

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for checkers

checkers

U.S. name for the game known in Britain as draughts, 1712, from plural of checker (n.1). So called for the board on which the game is played.

checker

n.1

mid-13c., "game of chess (or checkers);" c.1300, "a chessboard, board with 64 squares for playing chess or similar games; a set of chessmen" a shortening of Old French eschequier "chessboard; a game of chess," from Medieval Latin scaccarium (see check (n.)).

Meaning "pattern of squares" is late 14c. Meaning "a man or marker in the game of checkers" is from 1864. British prefers chequer. From late 14c. as "a checked design." The word had earlier senses of "table covered with checked cloth for counting" (late 12c. in Anglo-Latin), a sense also in Old French (see checker (n.2)).

checker

"to ornament with a checked or chackered design," late 14c. (implied in checkered), from Old French eschequeré and from checker (n.1). Related: Checkering.

checker

n.2

"table covered with a checked cloth," specialized sense of checker (n.1), late 14c. (in Anglo-Latin from c.1300); especially a table for counting money or keeping accounts (revenue reckoned with counters); later extended to "the fiscal department of the English Crown; the Exchequer (mid-14c.; in Anglo-Latin from late 12c.).

checker

noun

verb (used with object)

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Examples from the Web for checkers

checkers

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checker

noun, verb

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checker

noun mainly US and Canadian

checkers

checker

checker

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