chequer

See also: Chequer

English

Chequers

Etymology

(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

IPA^(key): /ˈt͡ʃɛkə/

Noun

chequer (plural chequers)

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

Derived terms

chequer tree

Verb

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 191120697:
  
  Our minds are, as it were, chequered with truth and falsehood.
- 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

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 15566697, page 321, column 3.

Middle English

Noun

chequer

Alternative form of cheker

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[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 15566697, page 321, column 3.