chess
From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
See also: Chess
English
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Pronunciation
Etymology 1
From Middle English ches, chesse, from Old French eschés, plural of eschec, from Medieval Latin scaccus, from Arabic شَاه (šāh, “king [in chess]”), from Classical Persian شاه (šāh, “shah, king”), from Middle Persian 𐭬𐭫𐭪𐭠 (mlkʾ /šāh/), from Old Persian 𐏋 (XŠ /xšāyaθiya/).
Compare German Schach and Italian scacchi. Compare French échecs (“chess”) and its descendants: Catalan escacs and Dutch schaak. More at check and shah (“king of Persia or Iran”).
Noun
chess (usually uncountable, plural chesses)
- A board game for two players, each beginning with sixteen chess pieces moving according to fixed rules across a chessboard with the objective to checkmate the opposing king.
- Synonyms: international chess, Western chess
Derived terms
- 3-D chess
- 4D chess
- 5D chess
- Absolute Rettah chess
- Advancing chess
- Alice chess
- Ambi-chess
- antichess
- Armageddon chess
- atomic chess
- Black and White chess
- blindfold chess
- blitz chess
- Blot-straight chess
- bughouse chess
- bullet chess
- Burmese chess
- Capablanca chess
- Capablanca's chess
- Capricorn chess
- capture chess
- Cheshire Cat chess
- Chess960
- chess-apple
- chessboard
- chess boxer
- chessboxer
- chess boxing
- chessboxing
- chess cake
- chess clock
- chessdom
- chess engine
- chessic
- chessist
- chess-like
- chesslike
- chess-man
- chessman
- chessmaster
- chess master
- chess pie
- chess piece
- chess-piece
- chesspiece
- chess player
- chessplayer
- chess-playing
- chess-rating
- chess set
- chess tart
- chess timer
- Chimaera chess
- Chinese chess
- classical chess
- Complete Contramatic chess
- complicacious chess
- computer chess
- Contramatic chess
- Co-regal chess
- correspondence chess
- Courier chess
- cubic chess
- Dabbabante chess
- Decimal Oriental chess
- Decimal Rettah chess
- Demigorgon chess
- Dodo chess
- double-king chess
- Double Rettah chess
- Dunce's chess
- Ethiopian chess
- fairy chess
- fast chess
- Fischer random chess
- four-dimensional chess
- four-handed chess
- four-man chess
- four-player chess
- four-way chess
- giveaway chess
- Gorgona chess
- Gorgon chess
- Gryphon chess
- half-queen's chess
- hexagonal chess
- holochess
- hope chess
- hyperbullet chess
- hyperchess
- Idle Kings' chess
- Imitante Queen chess
- international chess
- Jabberwocky chess
- Japanese chess
- killer chess
- kinglet chess
- Korean chess
- lightning chess
- Looking-glass chess
- Los Alamos chess
- losing chess
- mad queen chess
- Mad Threeparty chess
- Manchu chess
- March Hare chess
- Meddlers' chess
- Megasaur chess
- Mimotaur chess
- minichess
- Mock chess
- Mongolian chess
- Nightrider chess
- nonchess
- Rangers chess
- rapid chess
- Rettah chess
- robot chess
- Russian chess
- Semi-queen chess
- Simpleton chess
- solving chess
- speed chess
- Sphinx chess
- suicide chess
- Synchronistic chess
- take-all chess
- three-dimensional chess
- three-handed chess
- three-man chess
- three-player chess
- three-way chess
- Timur's cubic chess
- Tri-D Chess
- Tri-Dimensional Chess
- Tweedle chess
- twin orthodox chess
- ultrabullet chess
- Unirexal chess
- Western chess
- Wyvern chess
Translations
two-player board game
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See also
| Chess pieces in English · chess pieces, chessmen (see also: chess) (layout · text) | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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| king | queen | rook, castle | bishop | knight | pawn |
Etymology 2
Uncertain; perhaps linked to Etymology 1, above, from the sense of being arranged in rows or lines.
Noun
chess (plural chesses)
- (now chiefly US) Any of several species of grass in the genus Bromus, generally considered weeds.
- 2007, Michael Chabon, Gentlemen of the Road, Sceptre, published 2008, page 59:
- Hobbled, loudly gourmandizing the dry chess grass, they were guarded by a pair of dismounted soldiers in long, dusty coats [...].
Etymology 3
Compare French châssis (“a framework of carpentry”).
Noun
chess (plural chesses)
- (military, chiefly in the plural) One of the platforms, consisting of two or more planks dowelled together, for the flooring of a temporary military bridge.
- 1881, Thomas Wilhelm, A Military Dictionary and Gazetteer:
- the balks are laid and covered with chesses to within 1 foot of the trestle
- 1885, Edward S. Farrow, Farrow's Military Encyclopedia; A Dictionary of Military Knowledge:
- ach chess consists of three planks.
References
“chess”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
Anagrams
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