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• exchequer
  exchequer

  noun

  a treasury, as of a state or nation.
• Exchequer
  Exchequer

  noun

  See Court of Exchequer

exchequer

American  

[eks-chek-er, iks-chek-er] / ˈɛks tʃɛk ər, ɪksˈtʃɛk ər /

noun

1. a treasury, as of a state or nation.

2. (in Great Britain)

   1. (often initial capital letter) the governmental department in charge of the public revenues.

   2. (formerly) an office administering the royal revenues and determining all cases affecting them.

   3. 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.

3. Informal. one's financial resources; funds.

   I'd love to go, but the exchequer is a bit low.

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exchequer ¹ British  

/ ɪksˈtʃɛkə /

noun

1. (often capital) government (in Britain and certain other countries) the accounting department of the Treasury, responsible for receiving and issuing funds

2. informal personal funds; finances

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Exchequer ² British  

/ ɪksˈtʃɛkə /

noun

1. See Court of Exchequer

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Etymology

Origin of exchequer

1250–1300; Middle English escheker, eschequier < Anglo-French escheker, eschekier ( Old French eschequier ) chessboard, counting table. See checker ¹

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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.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

exchequer Exchequer

Healey, whose official title is chancellor of the exchequer, has also pledged to abide by the rules laid out by his predecessor Rachel Reeves, which state that day-to-day spending must balance with government tax receipts.

From Barron's ● Oct. 28, 2026

"So, I can confirm to you, we are not providing any funds from the exchequer."

From Barron's ● Oct. 17, 2026

She advised the Irish politician Thomas Spring Rice, later the British chancellor of the exchequer, on relief for and education of the poor.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 13, 2026

The current front-runner to be named chancellor of the exchequer, Britain’s equivalent of finance minister, is Wes Streeting, who has previously advocated for higher taxes on capital.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 24, 2026

In fact, since it was first installed at a cost of two hundred and thirty-six dollars to the Milagro exchequer, that parking meter had received only fourteen dimes, eight nickels, and eleven pennies.

From "The Milagro Beanfield War" by John Nichols

Chancellor of the Exchequer John Healey isn’t hinting at any major cuts to the fast-growing welfare state.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 1, 2026

Chancellor of the Exchequer John Healey against making a more hostile tax environment for banks, according to the Financial Times.

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 17, 2026

Allies have started whispering to reporters that if Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves or, by extension, Mr. Starmer himself is ousted, bond investors will take it poorly.

From The Wall Street Journal ● May 7, 2026

O'Shea said: "If you've got a situation where the Exchequer takes four fifths of what you're making, I'm not sure there's much more room for manoeuvre."

From BBC ● Mar. 22, 2026

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

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