n.1 Brit. the former government department in charge of national revenue.
Usage:
Its functions now belong to the Treasury, although the name formally survives, esp. in the title Chancellor of the Exchequer.
2 a royal or national treasury.
3 the money of a private individual or group.
Etymology: ME f. AF escheker, OF eschequier f. med.L scaccarium chessboard (its orig. sense, with ref. to keeping accounts on a chequered cloth)