chequer
The edible fruit of the wild service tree, Sorbus torminalis.
Noun
- The edible fruit of the wild service tree, Sorbus torminalis.
- Alternative spelling of checker.
Origin
See checker. (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.”
Forms
Derived
chequer tree chequerwise chequerwork chequy green-white-chequer
Verb
- Alternative spelling of checker.
- Our minds are, as it were, chequered with truth and falsehood. - 1711 December 11 (Gregorian calendar), [Joseph Addison; Richard Steele et al.], “FRIDAY, December 1, 1711”, in The Spectator, number 237; republished in...
- 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. - 1841 February–November, Charles Dickens,...