checker 1
/chek"euhr/ , n.
1. a small, usually red or black disk of plastic or wood, used in playing checkers.
2. checkers ,
a. Also called, Brit., draughts . ( used with a sing. v. ) 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. See diag. under open-hearth .
3. a checkered pattern.
4. one of the squares of a checkered pattern.
v.t.
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.
Also, Brit., chequer .
[ 1250-1300; ME checker chessboard escheker (by aphesis), equiv. to eschec CHECK + -er -ER 2 ]
checker 2
/chek"euhr/ , n.
1. a person or thing that checks.
2. a cashier, as in a supermarket or cafeteria.
3. a person who checks coats, baggage, etc.
[ 1525-35; CHECK 1 + -ER 1 ]