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checkered

 - 5 dictionary results

check⋅ered

  [chek-erd]
Use checkered in a Sentence
–adjective
1. marked by numerous and various shifts or changes; variegated: a checkered career.
2. marked by dubious episodes; suspect in character or quality: a checkered past.
3. marked with squares: a checkered fabric.
4. diversified in color; alternately light and shadowed: the checkered shade beneath trees.
Origin:
1350–1400; ME. See checker 1 , -ed 2

Synonyms:
1. varied, uneven, irregular, seesaw.

check⋅er

1  [chek-er]
–noun
1. a small, usually red or black disk of plastic or wood, used in playing checkers.
2. checkers,
a. Also called, British, draughts. (used with a singular verb) a game played by two persons, each with 12 playing pieces, on a checkerboard.
b. (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)
5. to mark like a checkerboard.
6. to diversify in color; variegate.
7. to diversify in character; subject to alternations: Sorrow and joy have checkered his life.
Also, British, chequer.

Origin:
1250–1300; ME checker chessboard < AF escheker (by aphesis), equiv. to eschec check + -er -er 2
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source Link To checkered
check·er   (chěk'ər)   
n.  

    1. One, such as an inspector or examiner, that checks.

    2. One that receives items for temporary safekeeping or for shipment: a baggage checker.

    3. checkers (used with a sing. verb) A game played on a checkerboard by two players, each using 12 pieces.

    4. One of the round flat pieces used in this game.

    5. A pattern of checks or squares.

    6. One of the squares in such a pattern.

    1. checkers (used with a sing. verb) A game played on a checkerboard by two players, each using 12 pieces.

    2. One of the round flat pieces used in this game.

    3. A pattern of checks or squares.

    4. One of the squares in such a pattern.

    1. A pattern of checks or squares.

    2. One of the squares in such a pattern.

  4. A cashier.

tr.v.   check·ered, check·er·ing, check·ers

  1. To mark with a checked or squared pattern.

  2. To diversify (something) in color, shading, or character; variegate.


[Middle English cheker, chessboard, alteration of escheker, from Old French eschequier, from eschec, check in chess; see check.]
check·ered   (chěk'ərd)   
adj.  

  1. Divided into squares.

  2. Marked by light and dark patches; diversified in color.

  3. Marked by great changes or shifts in fortune: a checkered career.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Word Origin & History

checker 
c.1314, "a chessboard," aphetic of O.Fr. eschekier "chessboard," from M.L. scaccarium (see check). British prefers chequer, but the U.S. form is more authentic. Checkers, Amer.Eng. name for the game known in Britain as draughts, dates from 1712. Checkered "marked like a chessboard" is from 1486.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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