chequer

See also: Chequer

English edit

Chequers

Etymology edit

(fruit): Apparently in allusion to the chequered or spotted appearance of the fruit. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, “the surmises that chequer may be a corruption of choker, and that ‘choker’ may once have been the name, are gratuitous.”^[1]

Pronunciation edit

IPA^(key): /ˈt͡ʃɛkə/

Noun edit

chequer (plural chequers)

The edible fruit of the wild service tree, Sorbus torminalis.
Alternative spelling of checker (in certain senses only)

Derived terms edit

chequer tree

Verb edit

chequer (third-person singular simple present chequers, present participle chequering, simple past and past participle chequered)

Alternative spelling of checker
- 1711 December 12 (Gregorian calendar), [Joseph Addison; Richard Steele et al.], “SATURDAY, December 1, 1711”, in The Spectator, number 237; republished in Alexander Chalmers, editor, The Spectator; a New Edition, […], volume III, New York, N.Y.: D[aniel] Appleton & Company, 1853, →OCLC:
  Our minds are, as it were, chequered with truth and falsehood.
  The spelling has been modernized.
- 1840-41, Charles Dickens, Barnaby Rudge
  A gleam of sun shining through the unsashed window, and chequering the dark workshop with a broad patch of light, fell full upon him, as though attracted by his sunny heart.

References edit

^ James A. H. Murray [et al.], editors (1884–1928), “Che·quer, sb.²”, in A New English Dictionary on Historical Principles (Oxford English Dictionary), volume II (C), London: Clarendon Press, →OCLC, page 321, column 3.

Middle English edit

Noun edit

chequer

Alternative form of cheker

[1] James A. H. Murray [et al.], editors (1884–1928), “Che·quer, sb.²”, in A New English Dictionary on Historical Principles (Oxford English Dictionary), volume II (C), London: Clarendon Press, →OCLC, page 321, column 3.

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