Forms: 3–5 chekere, 4–7 cheker, 4 scheker, 4–5 chekyr, chekir, checkere, 5 chekyre, chekur, chekker(e, chekkare, Sc. chakkere, (checher). 7. Sc. chaker, 7–9 checquer, 6– checker, 4– chequer. [ME. cheker, aphetic f. ME. and AF. escheker, a. OF. eschekier (= ONF. eskekier, Pr. escaquier, It. scacchiere):—late L. scaccārium orig. a chess-board, f. scacci, scāchi (pl.) chess, checkers. Cf. CHECK, CHESS, EXCHEQUER.
(Although the spelling checker is historically better supported, and more in accordance with Eng. usage, chequer predominates in current use; of 20 quotations since 1750, 16 have chequer, 2 checquer, 2 checker.)]
I. A chess-board and connected senses.
† 1. A chess-board; a square board divided into 64 small squares, colored alternately dark and light. Obs.
c. 1314. Guy Warw. (A.), 3195. Þe cheker þai oxy and þe meyne Bifor þe maiden þan pleyen he.
c. 1320. Sir Tristr., 309. A cheker he fond bi a cheire, He asked who wold play.
c. 1330. R. Brunne, Chron. Wace (Rolls), 11396. Somme … Drowe forthe meyne for þe cheker.
c. 1369. Chaucer, Dethe Blaunche, 660. Therewith Fortune said, checke here, And mate in the mid point of the checkere.
c. 1440. Gesta Rom., xxi. 71. The chekir or the chesse hath viij. poyntes in eche partie.
1474. Caxton, Chesse, IV. i. To speke of the forme and of the facion of the chequer.
1577. B. Googe, Heresbach’s Husb., II. (1586), 72. My trees stand foure square like the Chequer or Chesseboord.
1645. Bp. Hall, Contentation, 37. Neither should any of his men either stand or move, if in any other part of that Checker, it might bee in more hope to win.
1828. Scott, F. M. Perth, xxix. To finger a man off their enemies’ chequer.
b. A square of the board. rare. Cf. 12.
1801. Strutt, Sports & Past., IV. ii. The Polish Game requires a board with ten squares, or chequers, in each row.
† 2. The game of chess. Obs.
At first only contextual in such phrases as at the chequer, orig. = ‘at the chess-board.’
1297. R. Glouc. (1724), 192. Wyþ pleyynge at tables, oþer atte chekere.
c. 1314. Guy Warw. (Caius), 3195. Than at Chequer with the meyne Before that maide pleyden they.
c. 1330. Florice & Bl. (1857), 351. He wil com the ner And bidde the plaien at the scheker.
c. 1400. Destr. Troy, 1621. The chekker … The draghtes, the dyse, and oþer dregh gaumes.
1413. Lydg., Pylgr. Sowle, I. xxii. He that at the cheker pleyeth.
b. A chess-man. rare. Obs.
1474. Caxton, Chesse, IV. viii. He … dyd do make the forme of chequers of gold and siluer in humayn figure.
3. pl. The game of draughts. dial. and U.S. See CHECKER.
1838. Ht. Martineau, West. Trav., I. 280. Mr. Webster was playing chequers with his boy.
1886. W. H. Long, Dial. Isle of Wight (E. D. S.), Checquers, the game of draughts.
4. A chess-board as the sign of an inn; hence a generic proper name for a public-house.
c. 1400. Beryn, Prol. 13. They toke hir In, and loggit hem … Atte ‘Cheker of the hope.’
1598. Stow, Surv. (1633), 249/1. Now called Chequer-lane, or Chequer-Alley, of an Inne called the Chequer.
1659–60. Pepys, Diary, 24 Feb. As far as Foulmer … here we lay at the Chequer.
1797. Canning, Knife-grinder, 22, in Wks. 1823, 17. A-drinking at the Chequers.
1843. Neale, Ballads for People, 14. So they’re down at the Chequers, and at it once more!
II. The Exchequer.
Of the origin of this application of the word various more or less conjectural explanations have been offered: the earliest is that given in the Dialogus de Scaccario or Dialogue concerning the Exchequer, written in 1178 ‘by Richard Bishop of London the Treasurer, son of Bishop Nigel the Treasurer, and great-nephew of the justiciar Roger of Salisbury’ (Stubbs). According to this the scaccarium (chequer or eschequier) of the King was a quadrangular table, covered with a black cloth marked with transverse lines a foot or a palm apart, and having ‘calculi’ in the spaces; it was presumed to be so called from its likeness to a chequer or chess-board.
† 5. The table that gave its name to the King’s Exchequer; any table for accounts, a counter. Obs.
1178. Dial. de Scaccario, in Madox, Exchequer, App. Scaccarium tabula est quadrangula. Superponitur autem scaccario superiori pannus niger virgis distinctus, distantibus a se virgis vel pedis vel palmæ extentæ spacio. In spaciis autem calculi sunt…. Disc. Quæ est ratio hujus nominis? Mag. Nulla mihi verior ad præsens occurrit, quam quod scaccarii lusilis similem habet formam.
c. 1237. ? Roger of Wendover, Chron. Maj., an. 1231. Sedebant ad scaccarium regis, laicas causas ventilantes.
1389. in Eng. Gilds (1870), 83. Þai schulle bringe þe Catel & leyn vpon þe cheker bifor þe aldirman.
1742. R. Cornes, in Phil. Trans., XLII. 128. A large Purse … tossed by the two Chamberlains, standing upon the Chequer [a large square Table in Guildhall at Bridgnorth].
† 6. The Court of EXCHEQUER. Obs.
1178. Dial. de Scaccario, Licet autem tabula talis Scaccarium dicatur, transmutatur tamen hoc nomen ut ipsa quoque Curia qua consedente scaccario est scaccarium dicatur.
c. 1260. Matt. Paris, Hist. Angl., an. 1209. Amotum est scacarium a Westmonasterio usque ad Northamtonam.
c. 1330. R. Brunne, Chron. (1810), 312. His tresorere … Fordos vsages olde, & lawes of þe chekere.
1393. Langl., P. Pl., C. I. 91. Somme seruen þe kynge and hus seluer tellen, In þe chekkere and þe chauncelrie chalengynge hus dettes.
1423. Sir T. Rokeby, in Ellis, Orig. Lett., II. 31, I. 98. To comande the Tresorer and Barons of the Cheker of our Lord Kyng to here his Acompt.
1506–7. in Old City Acc. Bk. (Archaeol. Jrnl., XLIII. 171). Thomas Basset presentid them In to the Cheker for takyn of hyme a fynne of iijs. iiijd.
a. 1618. Raleigh, in Gutch, Coll. Cur., I. 58. The Red book in the Checquer.
1691. Locke, Toleration, Wks. 1727, II. 34. Men who … allow high Use as an Encouragement to lending to the Chequer.
† 7. transf. The royal or national treasury or court of account. Obs.
1425. Sc. Acts Jas. I. (1597), § 49. To make reckoning and giue compt thereof, at the Kingis Checker.
1473. Ld. Treas. Acc. Scotl., I. 48. Dauid Rudeman … passand with preceptis of the parliament and the chekkere on north halue Forth. Ibid. (1473–4), I. 66. His bill … particulary examinit at the Chakkere.
1535. Coverdale, 1 Macc. x. 44. Expenses shalbe geuen out of the kynges Checker.
1609. Skene, Reg. Maj. (Act. Robt. III.), 57. The Schiref sovld compeir in the cheker.
1692. trans. Sallust, 153. You tacitly murmur’d to see the public Chequer robb’d.
† 8. A sitting of the Court of Exchequer or similar body Obs.
c. 1425. Wyntoun, Cron., VIII. xxiv. 34. The nest Compt, that that Schyrrawe thare Suld gywe, quhan haldyn the chekkare ware.
1513–75. Diurn. Occurr. (1833), 11. The kingis grace past to Striueling, and thair held his chekker.
1621. Bk. Discipline, 3. To conveen the time of the next chekker.
† 9. transf. and fig. Treasury. Cf. ‘exchequer.’
1598. Drayton, Heroic. Ep., xviii. 37. That Nature … made this place the Chequer of her store.
a. 1637. B. Jonson, Underwoods, 568. If the Checker be empty, so will be his Head.
1635. Quarles, Embl., II. xv. (1718), 121. Makes ev’ry purse his chequer; and at pleasure, Walks forth and taxes all the world like Cæsar.
† 10. ? A room or place for accounts. Obs. exc. Hist.
[1402–3. Bursar’s Roll New Coll. Oxf., 3rd & 4th Hen. IV. (Heading, Custos Scaccarii et Librariæ), Item … pro tribus virgatis … de viridi Kersey emptis pro Scaccario et domo compoti.]
1577. Holinshed, Chron., III. 1509/2. The same daye the King … landed at Calays … his grace was receyued into the checker, and there rested.
1593. Rites & Mon. Ch. Durh. (1842), 81. He had alwaies one tonne of wyne lyinge in the said checker [at Durham], for the use of the sayd Church.
c. 1670. New Coll. Oxf., Plan of New Building in Garden Quad., Rooms are described as ‘Chequer, and Common Room over it,’ ‘Audit House’ [now Bursary] ‘Treasury,’ [etc.].
1887. J. Sheppard, Literæ Cantuar. (Rolls), I. Introd. 21. The Serjeant of Walworth must have his accounts audited in the Cheker at Canterbury. 104, note. The Cheker or Audit room of the Monastery … is here meant.
† 11. ? A checker-roll. Obs.
1467. Ord. Worcester, in Eng. Gilds, 406. It ys ordeyned … euery citezein of the old cheker pay at this tyme but vijd. and euery citezein of the newe cheker but xiijd.
III. A chequered pattern.
12. pl. Squares or spots like, or suggesting, those of a chess-board.
1629. Parkinson, Garden Pleas. Flowers, vii. 43. Fritillaria. The flower is … spotted in very good order, with fine small checkers.
c. 1705. Berkeley, in Fraser, Life & Lett. (1871), 430. Blew and yellow chequers still diminishing terminate in green.
1846. Ruskin, Mod. Paint., I. II. VI. i. § 18. The shadows of the upper boughs … resting in quiet chequers upon the glittering earth.
1872. Yeats, Nat. Hist. Comm., 85. The Netherlands are cut into chequers by canals.
13. Marking like that of a chess-board; alternation of colors; chequer-work, chequering.
1779. Forrest, Voy. N. Guinea (1780), 207–8. I saw a white ensign, bordered with a checker of blue, yellow, and red.
1818. Keats, Endymion, II. 287. Hill-flowers running wild In pink and purple chequer.
1882. Athenæum, No. 2860. 248. The ornaments are more Asiatic than Egyptian: rosettes, chequers, antefixal ornaments, gazelles.
† 14. A fabric with a chequered pattern; chequered material; also attrib.; cf. CHECKERY sb. 2.
1542. Act 33 Hen. VIII., in Stat. Irel. (1621), 185. Any hydes, fells, checkers.
1552. in E. Peacock, Eng. Ch. Furniture (1866), 222. One alter clothe of white Cheker sylk.
1579. Middlesex County Rec., I. 240. Two hundred and twelve yards of woolen cloth called ‘Checkers.’
15. Arch. in pl. ‘In masonry, stones in the facings of walls which have all their thin joints continued in straight lines, without interruption or breaking joints’ (Gwilt).
16. attrib. or Comb. † a. ‘belonging to the exchequer or royal treasury,’ as chequer-compt, -matter, -pay, -tally; b. ‘resembling a chess-board in appearance, of a chequered pattern,’ as chequer-hedge; chequer-faced, -windowed adjs.; † chequer-bill, a promissory bill issued by the exchequer, an exchequer-bill; † chequer-bird, a name of the Guinea-fowl from its marking; chequer-course (see quot.); † chequer-man, a man employed in the exchequer; a man who keeps accounts; † chequer-note = chequer-bill. Also CHEQUER-CHAMBER, -WORK, etc.
1697. Lond. Gaz., No. 3289/4. Lost … a *Chequer Bill of 20l. No. 17991.
1745. P. Thomas, Jrnl. Anson’s Voy., 20. Abundance of Pintadoes, or *Chequer Birds.
a. 1605. Montgomerie, Lesson how to die, 52. Quhen he [the great Judge] thy *checker compt sall craive.
1704. Worlidge, Dict. Rust. et Urb., s.v. Brick-making, *Chequer-course is the lower row of bricks in the Arch.
1659. Lond. Chanticleers, xii. in Hazl., Dodsley, XII. 351. Do not foul your mouth any more with the *checker-faced scullion.
1677. Plot, Oxfordsh., 338. Upon turning one of the cocks at f rises a *chequer hedge of water, as they call it.
c. 1570. Thynne, Pride & Lowl. (1841), 58. Your *cheker man for it doth keepe no chalke.
1643. Baker, Chron., Eliz., 134 (R.). I have heard many Checker men say, there never was a better Treasurer.
1667. Pepys, Diary, 20 Feb. With the Chequer men to the ‘Leg’ in King Street; and there had wine for them.
1563–87. Foxe, A. & M. (1596), 249/2. Certeine bishops did sit on *chequer matters belonging to the King.
1705. Vanbrugh, Confed., III. i. Not a penny of money in cash! nor a *chequer-note! nor a bank-bill!
1752. Hume, Ess. & Treat. (1777), I. 336. To stuff the nation with this fine commodity of bank bills and chequer-notes.
1628. Mead, in Ellis, Orig. Lett., I. 350, III. 283. In Queen Elizabeth’s days, when nothing upon earth was surer than *Chequer pay.
a. 1680. Butler, Rem. (1759), I. 254. And all the Points, like *Chequer-tallies suit.
1865. E. Burritt, Walk to Land’s End, 253. Low, *checker-windowed houses.
