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checkers

 [chek-er]   Origin

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.
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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.

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Checkers is always a great word to know.
So is slumgullion. Does it mean:
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.
a stew of meat, vegetables, potatoes, etc.
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Also, British, chequer.

Origin:
1250–1300; Middle English checker chessboard < Anglo-French escheker (by aphesis), equivalent to eschec check + -er -er2

Can be confused: draft, draught, draughts, drought (see pronunciation note at draught).
Dictionary.com Unabridged

check·er

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.
Origin:
1525–35; check1 + -er1
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
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Collins
World English Dictionary
checkers (ˈtʃɛkəz)
 
—n
(US), (Canadian) (functioning as singular) a game for two players using a checkerboard and 12 checkers each. The object is to jump over and capture the opponent's pieces

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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Etymonline
Word Origin & History

checker
early 14c., "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. Checkered "marked like a chessboard" is from late 15c.
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checkers
Amer.Eng. name for the game known in Britain as draughts, 1712, from checker.
COLLAPSE
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
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