Cheka

[che-kah]

noun

(in the Soviet Union) the state secret-police organization (1917–22), succeeded by the GPU.

Compare KGB.

Origin of Cheka

1920–25; < Russian Cheká, Vecheká, names of the initial letters of Vserossíĭskaya chrezvycháĭnaya Kommíssiya (po bor'bé s kontrarevolyútsieĭ, spekulyátsieĭ i sabotázhem) All-Russian Extraordinary Commission (for the Struggle against Counterrevolution, Speculation and Sabotage)

Related formsChe·kist, noun

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

Examples from the Web for cheka

Historical Examples of cheka

And so we talked the members of the "Cheka" round to everything that we wanted.
Beasts, Men and Gods
Ferdinand Ossendowski
They were the results of the bloody work of the "Cheka" at Minnusinsk.
Beasts, Men and Gods
Ferdinand Ossendowski
In every Siberian "Cheka" I could have had this end so joyfully accorded me.
Beasts, Men and Gods
Ferdinand Ossendowski
He is the commissar of the 'Cheka' and she is the agent of this establishment.
Beasts, Men and Gods
Ferdinand Ossendowski
In the building of the Soviet, where we came to exchange our horses, there was being held a meeting of the "Cheka."
Beasts, Men and Gods
Ferdinand Ossendowski

British Dictionary definitions for cheka

Cheka

noun

Russian history the secret police set up in 1917 by the Bolshevik government: reorganized in the Soviet Union in Dec 1922 as the GPU

Word Origin for Cheka

C20: from Russian, acronym of Chrezvychainaya Komissiya Extraordinary Commission (to combat Counter-Revolution)

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 cheka

Cheka

early Soviet secret police, 1921, from Russian initials of Chrezvychainaya Komissiya "Extraordinary Commission (for Combating Counter-Revolution);" set up 1917, superseded 1922 by G.P.U.