checker1
- 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.
- to mark like a checkerboard.
- to diversify in color; variegate.
- to diversify in character; subject to alternations: Sorrow and joy have checkered his life.
Origin of checker1
checker2
- a person or thing that checks.
- a cashier, as in a supermarket or cafeteria.
- a person who checks coats, baggage, etc.
Origin of checker2
Related Words
detective, monitor, investigator, auditor, controller, patchwork, inspector, appraiser, interrogator, inquisitor, sleuth, overseer, reviewer, tester, scrutinizer, checker, assessor, plaid, variegation, motleyExamples from the Web for checkers
Contemporary Examples
The higher your score, the more likely it is that you can lip-sync along to the “Checkers” Speech.
They played chess and checkers with him, let him watch soccer matches on TV and eventually gave him a radio.
Three, in jump seats, were a combination of observers and checkers.
Thwarted Conquest: "I never said anything about checkers, old man!"
Historical Examples
He attempted a game of checkers and lost, which did not tend to make his temper any sweeter.
The Depot MasterJoseph C. Lincoln
It's all to do over again, checkers and everything—an' what'll he say to me?
"Captains Courageous"Rudyard Kipling
Some were playing cards or checkers, some laughing and joking, and others reading.
The ClansmanThomas Dixon
It is a game of chess, and not of solitaire, nor even of checkers.
Over the TeacupsOliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.
Almost unintentionally he followed the path that led past the Checkers of the Hope.
The LifeboatR.M. Ballantyne
checkers
- (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
checker1
- the usual US spelling of chequer
- 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
checker2
- a cashier, esp in a supermarket
- an attendant in a cloakroom, left-luggage office, etc
Word Origin and History for checkers
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
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.).