| 释义 |
▪ I. checkmate, int. and n.|ˈtʃɛkˈmeɪt|
Forms: 4 chekmat, 4–5 chek mate, 5–6 chekmate, 6 checke-mate, checke and mate, chekemate, 6–7 check mate, 7 cheke mate, 6–9 check-mate, 5– checkmate.
[ME. chek mat(e chekmat(e, aphetic f. OF. eschec mat, eschec et mat, Pr. escat mat, It. scaccomatto, Sp. jaque y mate, OSp. xaquimate, OSp. and Pg. xaque mate, ad. Arabic shāh-māt(a the king is dead: see check n.1]
A. int. Exclamation at chess by a player on putting his adversary's King into inextricable check, a move by which the game is won; orig. meaning ‘(your) King is dead’. (Now commonly mate.)
1413Lydg. Pylgr. Sowle i. xxii. (1859) 27 A shame hath he that at the cheker pleyeth, Whan that a pown seyith to the kyng, chekmate! 1789Twiss Chess I. 127 The Colonel always took care to be on his feet, to fly to the farthest corner of the room, when he said, ‘Checkmate, my Lord!’
b. transf. to say checkmate (to any one): to say ‘you are beaten’, ‘your game is up’; to beat in a contest; to defeat, undo.
a1346Pol. Poems (1859) I. 29 In proprio climat tibi dicet aper cito chekmat. c1374Chaucer Troylus ii. 752 Shal nonne husbond sey to me ‘chek mate’. c1430Lydg. Bochas Prol. 26 Princes, for they be not stable, Fortune full oft..saith to them ‘Checkmate’. 1513Bradshaw St. Werburgh (1848) 55 Whan dethe with his darte sayth to us chekemate. 1579Lyly Euphues (Arb.) 109 A milksop, taunted and retaunted with check and checkmate.
B. n.
1. This exclamation taken as a name for itself, and for the move which puts the King into inextricable check. to give checkmate: to make or effect this conclusive move. (Also mate.)
[1426Audelay Poems 23 After chec for the roke ware fore the mate.] c1440Gesta Rom. i. xxi. 71 (Harl. MS.) When he takith [no] kepe of God, and hathe no meyne, than is hit to þe man chekmate. 1562J. Rowbotham Play Cheasts C vj, If his Bishoppe take thyne, thou shalt geue checke and mate, setting thy Queene in the fourth house of his Kings Bishoppe. 1564W. Bullein Dial. pleasaunte & pietifull (1888) 98 I did se..a Parate giue one of their gentlewomen a checkmate at Chesse. 1656Beale Chesse-Play 11 The maine designe of the game..is as suddenly as can be to give check mate. 1870Hardy & Ware Mod. Hoyle, Chess (Warne) 42 When a checkmate is obtained, the game is at an end. Ibid. 45 The player who effects checkmate wins the game. 1875Hamerton Intell. Life x. v. 362 Bright ideas about checkmates occur only to persons who have studied chess.
b. fig. and transf.
1520Whittinton Vulg. (1527) 33 He gaue hym..a dosen chekmates [Lat. sanna, a jeer] or they had done. a1529Skelton Dk. Albany 384 Our mayster shall you brynge..to lowe estate, And mate you with chekmate. 1568Grafton Chron. II. 540 If he then were overcome, the game had for the Englishemen bene clerely gotten, and to the Frenchmen, a perpetuall checkmate. 1579Spenser Sheph. Cal. Dec. 53 Loue they him called, that gaue me checkmate. 1652L. S. People's Liberty x. 20 To give a check-mate to Religion. a1845Hood Compass xv. His fate, Check-mate.
c. phr. to play checkmate with.
c1500in Hazl. E.P.P. III. 260 A noble clarke of late..Hath played with them chekmate, Theyr courage to abate. 1522Skelton Why not to Courte? 585 And he wyll play checke mate With riall maieste, Counte him selfe as good as he. 1572Gascoigne Flowers Wks. (1587) 90 When deadly hate Did play checke mate With me poore pawne.
†2. Apparently, from erroneous analysis of the preceding phrase, checkmate occurs as
†a. Chess. Obs. rare.
a1661B. Holyday Juvenal 223 The name of the game, checkmate, is derived..from the Hebrew.
†b. Of persons: An equal in a contest, a rival, match; an equal in power or rank; as if ‘a mate that checks’; also variously corrupted as Jack mate, chek-meat, etc. Obs.
1509Hawes Examp. Virt. vi. 73 She her selfe helde her estate In a gloryous chaumbre without chekmate. 1530Proper Dyaloge (1863) 22 They resorte to lordes and great estates with whom they are dayly checke mates. 1566Knox Hist. Ref. Wks. 1846 I. 12 Thou should not mack thy self chek-meat to the King. 1577H. Rhodes Bk. Nurture 321 Then will all your Elders thinke you be with him Iack mate. 1579Tomson Calvin's Serm. Tim. 18/2 All that proudly would play the checkemates against him. 1600Holland Livy xxxiv. iii. 854 Untill at length they be checkmates [exæquari] with their husbands. 1647–51N. Bacon Hist. Disc. lv. 156 The Clergy..in every Nation grew checkmate [with the Sovereign]: and..had..a principal part of the strength.
▪ II. † checkˈmate, a. Obs.
[f. prec., or ? short for checkmated.]
In the position of a chess-player to whom checkmate has been given, and who is therefore defeated; beaten, undone.
c1370Robt. Cicyle 54 With a draght he was checkmate. c1400Sowdone Bab. 2926 He cryed ‘alas’! and felle alle chekmate. 1560Rolland Crt. Venus iv. 334 He is conuict and maid chakmeit. a1605Montgomerie Misc. P., Agst. Dispair in Love 12 Nou thou are chekmait.
▪ III. checkmate, v.|ˈtʃɛkˈmeɪt|
[f. the n.]
1. Chess. (trans.) To give checkmate to: see the n. sense 1. (Now, commonly, to mate.)
1789Twiss Chess II. 165 A pawn which was hidden behind a castle checkmated me without mercy. 1847Staunton Chess-pl. Handbk. 39 He must checkmate his adversary in fifty moves on each side at most. 1856Whately Bacon's Ess. xxii. Annot. (ed. 2) 215 He is like a chess-player who takes several pawns, but is checkmated.
2. transf. To arrest or defeat utterly, discomfit. In mod. use, often: to defeat or frustrate the ‘game’ or scheme of (any one) by a counter-movement.
a1400Octouian 1746 There was many an hethen hounde, that they chekmatyde [So MS. clearly]. a1529Skelton Deedmans Hed 30 Oure days be datyd To be chekmatyd With drawttys of deth. 1571Golding Calvin on Ps. x. 13 He is despitefully pulled out of his throne, and after a sort checkmated. 1603Florio Montaigne ii. xxxiv. (1632) 414 As an impetuous or raging torrent..shockes and checkmates what ere it meeteth withall. [1649Bounds Publ. Obed. 58 At this distance he [Jas. I] contrived how to extinguish or check that mate [the Kirk] there. ]1868E. Edwards Ralegh I. xxvi. 665 Some..had their own reasons for checkmating the Spaniards in relation to Ralegh, if they could. 1882J. H. Blunt Ref. Ch. Eng. II. 10 To checkmate their dangerous rival instantly. 1884Manch. Exam. 2 May 4/7 It will need a stringent clause to checkmate the ingenuity of the local taxmasters. |