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

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

Examples from the Web for chequers

Is one meant to infer that he began to write on his return from Chequers, and was interrupted; or is it a slip?
Harold Evans Responds to Murdoch|Harold Evans|April 25, 2012|DAILY BEAST
Ostensibly the letter thanks her for letting him interrupt her weekend at Chequers.
Harold Evans Responds to Murdoch|Harold Evans|April 25, 2012|DAILY BEAST
When will we discover what was really discussed between Cameron and James when they met at Chequers in November 2010?
The Murdoch and Thatcher Meetings: What Really Happened|Peter Jukes|March 17, 2012|DAILY BEAST
We now know the details of the meetings between Murdoch and Thatcher at her country residence in Chequers in 1981.
The Murdoch and Thatcher Meetings: What Really Happened|Peter Jukes|March 17, 2012|DAILY BEAST

The next time we saw the Bushes was at Chequers a month or so later.
Meet the Bushes|Cherie Blair|October 10, 2008|DAILY BEAST
Six regular poachers come daily to The Chequers, but there are many others hanging around who are merely amateurs.
The Chequers|James Runciman
I went very warily down the alley, and found that Mr. Benjo had assuredly left an awkward trap for the people from The Chequers.
The Chequers|James Runciman
Then the carpet being spread, they brought plenty of cards, many dice, with great store and abundance of chequers and chessboards.
Gargantua and Pantagruel, Complete.|Francois Rabelais
This is called go-no-me-namako, because of its resemblance to the disposition of chequers in the Japanese game of go.
Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 15, Slice 2|Various
Often it was seat, coffer, and table in one, with chequers inlaid on the top for chess.
Arts and Crafts Essays|Various

British Dictionary definitions for chequers

chequers

/ (ˈtʃɛkəz) /

noun

(functioning as singular) another name for draughts

Chequers

/ (ˈtʃɛkəz) /

noun

an estate and country house in S England, in central Buckinghamshire: the official country residence of the British prime minister

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 chequers

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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Nearby words

Origin of checker

Examples from the Web for chequers

chequers

noun

Chequers

noun

checker

noun, verb

noun

checker

noun mainly US and Canadian

checker

checker

checker