[chek-meyt] 
noun, verb, -mat⋅ed, -mat⋅ing, interjection | 1. | Also called mate. Chess.
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| 2. | a complete check; defeat: His efforts to escape met with a checkmate. |
| 3. | Chess. to maneuver (an opponent's king) into a check from which it cannot escape; mate. |
| 4. | to check completely; defeat: Napoleon was checkmated at Waterloo. |
| 5. | Chess. (used by a player to announce that he or she has put the opponent's king into inextricable check.) |
| check·mate (chěk'māt') tr.v. check·mat·ed, check·mat·ing, check·mates
[Middle English chekmat, from Old French eschec mat, from Arabic šāh māt, the king is dead : šāh, king (from Persian shāh; see shah) + māt, died (from earlier māta, to die; see mwt in Semitic roots).] |