checker

¹

[ chek-er ]

noun

1. a small, usually red or black disk of plastic or wood, used in playing checkers.
2. checkers,
   1. alsocalledcomma British, draughts [drafts, drahfts]. (used with a singular verb) a game played by two persons, each with 12 playing pieces, on a checkerboard.
   2. (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.
3. a checkered pattern.
4. one of the squares of a checkered pattern.

verb (used with object)

1. to mark like a checkerboard.
2. to diversify in color; variegate.
3. to diversify in character; subject to alternations:

   Sorrow and joy have checkered his life.

checker

²

[ chek-er ]

noun

1. a person or thing that checks.
2. a cashier, as in a supermarket or cafeteria.
3. a person who checks coats, baggage, etc.

checker

¹

/ ˈtʃɛkə /

noun

1. a cashier, esp in a supermarket
2. an attendant in a cloakroom, left-luggage office, etc

checker

²

/ ˈtʃɛkə /

noun

1. the usual US spelling of chequer

noun

1. textiles a variant spelling of chequer
2. any one of the 12 flat thick discs used by each player in the game of checkers Also called (in Britain and certain other countries)draughtsman

Word History and Origins

Origin of checker¹

First recorded in 1250–1300; Middle English check(i)er, chequer, chekker “chessboard, checkerboard,” from Old French eschequier, eschaquier (by shortening), equivalent to eschec + -er; check ¹, -er ²

Origin of checker²

First recorded in 1525–35; check ¹ + -er ¹

Example Sentences

Writer’s text editor has a built-in grammar checker and gives you useful real-time suggestions focusing on tone, style, and inclusiveness.

From Search Engine Watch

Spell checkers automatically catch your mistakes, while predictive text helps you craft memos and emails.

From Quartz

Until now, Facebook has responded to this sort of viral misinformation by pointing to its team of fact checkers it employs, which can result in Facebook taking down some stories or placing a warning label on them.

From Fortune

Not checkers, not chess, not Connect Four, certainly not a half-court shot with $1,200 on the line.

From FiveThirtyEight

One of the most renowned names in the field of Go, a strategy board game that combines chess and checkers, the 22-year-old is presently ranked No.

From Quartz

Not to be a killjoy fact-checker, but this does seem like an important detail to get right.

From The Daily Beast

As a dyslexic,” he said, “the spell checker has transformed my life.

From The Daily Beast

I was a fact-checker for Time International, working on the European and Asian editions.

From The Daily Beast

Then you graduated to clipper and finally to researcher—or fact-checker.

From The Daily Beast

“When the fact checker from This American Life contacted Daisey, Daisey created a story,” Hesseldahl said.

From The Daily Beast

They moved toward the door, but there Mr. Spackles paused to look back grandly upon the checker players.

From Project Gutenberg

"Now we can sit around the fire after dinner and tell stories," she said, putting away her papers in an old checker-board.

From Project Gutenberg

But so fine a house ought to have a better checker-board than a barrel-head, with grains of corn for men.

From Project Gutenberg

As he handed them to the checker, he looked casually around.

From Project Gutenberg

Another half hour passed, and then he decided to get up and watch one of the checker games that was in progress near him.

From Project Gutenberg

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