Origin: 1920–25; < Russian Cheká, Vecheká, names of the initial letters of Vserossíĭskaya chrezvycháĭnaya Kommíssiya (po bor'bé s kontrarevolyútsieĭ, spekulyátsieĭ i sabotázhem) All-Russian Extraordinary Commission (for the Struggle against Counterrevolution, Speculation and Sabotage)
an extraordinary or unusual thing, person, or event; an exceptional example or instance.
a children's mummer's parade, as on the Fourth of July, with prizes for the best costumes.
a printed punctuation mark (‽), available only in some typefaces, designed to combine the question mark (?) and the exclamation point (!), indicating a mixture of query and interjection, as after a rhetorical question.
early Soviet secret police, 1921, from Rus. initials of Chrezvychainaya Komissiya "Extraordinary Commission (for Combating Counter-Revolution);" set up 1917, superseded 1922 by G.P.U.