chequer

British  

/ ˈtʃɛkə /

noun

1. any of the marbles, pegs, or other pieces used in the game of Chinese chequers

2. 1. a pattern consisting of squares of different colours, textures, or materials

   2. one of the squares in such a pattern

---

verb

1. to make irregular in colour or character; variegate

2. to mark off with alternating squares of colour

Etymology

Origin of chequer

C13: chessboard, from Anglo-French escheker, from eschec _check

Example Sentences

Richard Austen Butler, 48> able intellectual and pamphleteer of the party -Chancellor of the Ex chequer.

From Time Magazine Archive

I remember a foolish fleeting wonder that the light chequer of shadow should pattern his clear and self-possessed face exactly as it did our own—and he the lusus natur� he was!

From The Tower of Oblivion by Onions, Oliver [pseud.]

Tall bennets and red sorrel rise above the grass, white ox-eye daisies chequer it below; the distant hedge quivers as the air, set in motion by the intense heat, runs along.

From Nature Near London by Jefferies, Richard

I would rise from my book and pull the blind aside, and see the snow and the glittering hollies chequer a Scottish garden, and the winter moonlight brighten the white hills.

From The Works of Robert Louis Stevenson, Volume 9 by Stevenson, Robert Louis

Through the open windows of my apartments, a rich flood of sunshine pours in, and plays upon the floor in many a fanciful chequer.

From Antigua and the Antiguans, Volume I (of 2) A full account of the colony and its inhabitants from the time of the Caribs to the present day by Anonymous