chequeredcheckeredadj.
/ˈtʃɛkəd/ 1. Marked like a chessboard; hence, having a pattern of various colours in more or less geometrical arrangement.
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the world > matter > colour > variegation > chequered pattern > [adjective]
checkeryc1440
checkeda1475
chequered1486
counterchanged1648
tessellated1723
diced1725
dam-brod1779
blue-checked1790
quadrilled1835
quadrille1856
chessboard1889
windowpane-checked1917
society > leisure > the arts > visual arts > ornamental art and craft > pattern or design > [adjective] > geometric
diapered?a1400
frettedc1420
checkeryc1440
checkeda1475
diaper1480
chequered1486
lozenged1523
diapery1605
fret1663
lozengy1686
reticulated1753
geometrical1777
reticular1783
geometric1842
Z-shaped1858
chessboard1889
1486 Bk. St. Albans, Her. F j They be calde armys chekkerit when they ar made of ij colouris to the maner of a chekker.
a1533 Ld. Berners tr. Arthur of Brytayn (?1560) ciiii. sig. E*iiii The baner of Britaine wyth the chekered armes.
1654 E. Gayton Pleasant Notes Don Quixot iii. v. 97 He had the better of the whites in this checquer'd board, now have–at the blacks.
1674 London Gaz. No. 901/4 Lost..a Green Checkerd Night-Bag.
1762 W. Falconer Shipwreck iii. 47 And checquer'd marble pav'd the hallow'd floors.
1779 T. Forrest Voy. New Guinea 170 Checkered cloths.
1815 W. Scott Lord of Isles i. xxx. 38 His chequer'd plaid.
1836 C. Kingsley Lett. (1878) I. 33.
2.
a. Diversified in colour, variegated; marked with alternate light and shade.
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the world > matter > colour > variegation > [adjective]
fawa700
medleyc1350
freckledc1380
motleyc1380
pied1382
specked1382
vary1382
partyc1385
parted1393
peckleda1400
polymitec1425
sere-colouredc1425
vairc1425
discoloured?1440
motleyed1447
varying1488
sheld1507
fleckered1508
piet1508
mellay1515
particoloured1530
pickled1552
varied1578
mingled1580
partly coloured1582
chequered1592
medley-coloured1593
mingle-coloured1593
piebald1594
feathered1610
changeable1612
particolour1612
enamelled1613
variousa1618
pie-coloured1619
jaspered1620
gangean1623
versicolour1628
patchwork1634
damasked1648
variously-coloureda1660
variegateda1661
agated1665
varicoloured1665
damaska1674
various-coloureda1711
pieted1721
versicoloured1721
diversicoloured1756
mosaic1776
harlequin1779
spanged1788
calico1807
piety1811
varied-coloured1811
discolorate1826
heterochromous1842
jaspé1851
discolor1859
discolorous1860
jasperoid1876
damascened1879
heterochromatic1895
variotinted1903
batik1914
varihued1921
rumbled1930
damasky1931
pepper-and-salt1940
partihued1959
1592 R. Greene Quip for Vpstart Courtier sig. B The checkerd (Paunsie) or party coloured Harts ease.
1645 J. Milton L'Allegro in Poems 34 Dancing in the Chequer'd shade.
1713 A. Pope Windsor-Forest 2 Here waving Groves a checquer'd Scene display, And part admit and part exclude the Day.
1730 J. Thomson Autumn in Seasons 148 And mark his [sc. the stag's] beauteous, checquer'd sides with gore.
1796 R. Southey Joan of Arc vii. 440 Beneath the o'er-arching forests' chequer'd shade.
b. chequered skipper n. a species of the skipper butterfly, Cyclopides palæmon.
ΘΚΠ
the world > animals > invertebrates > phylum Arthropoda > class Insecta > Rhopalocera (butterflies) > [noun] > family Hesperidae > genus Cyclopides > cyclopides palaemon (chequered skipper)
chequered skipper1839
1839 W. Wood Index Entomologicus i. 1 Papilio. Butterfly... 9 Paniscus Chequered Skipper.
1879 W. F. Kirby European Butterflies & Moths 64 Cyclopides..C. Palæmon..(Chequered Skipper). Wings above blackish-brown, with angular tawny spots on the fore-wings, and round ones on the hind~wings.
1957 E. B. Ford Butterflies (ed. 3) i. 16 At the very end of the [18th] century one more butterfly was added to the British list, the Chequered Skipper, Carterocephalus palaemon.
3. Diversified in character; full of constant alternation (esp. for the worse). Esp. in chequered career.
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the world > time > change > changeableness > [adjective]
slidinga900
wankleeOE
windyc1000
unsteadfastc1200
fleeting?c1225
loose?c1225
brotelc1315
unstablec1340
varyingc1340
variantc1374
motleyc1380
ungroundedc1380
muablea1393
passiblea1393
remuablea1393
changeablea1398
movablea1398
variablec1397
slidderya1400
ticklec1400
variantc1412
flitting1413
mutable?a1425
movingc1425
flaskisable1430
flickering1430
transmutablec1430
vertible1447
brittlea1450
ficklea1450
permutablec1450
unfirmc1450
uncertain1477
turnable1483
unsteadfast1483
vagrantc1522
inconstant1526
alterable?1531
stirringc1540
slippery1548
various1552
slid?1553
mutala1561
rolling1561
weathery1563
unconstant1568
interchangeable1574
fluctuant1575
stayless1575
transitive1575
voluble1575
changeling1577
queasy1579
desultory1581
huff-puff1582
unstaid1586
vagrant1586
changeful1590
floating1594
Protean1594
unstayed1594
swimming1596
anchorless1597
mobilec1600
ticklish1601
catching1603
labile1603
unrooted1604
quicksilvered1605
versatile1605
insubstantial1607
uncertain1609
brandling1611
rootless1611
squeasy1611
wind-changinga1616
insolid1618
ambulatory1625
versatilous1629
plastic1633
desultorious1637
unbottomed1641
fluid1642
fluent1648
yea-and-nay1648
versipellous1650
flexile1651
uncentred1652
variating1653
chequered1656
slideable1662
transchangeative1662
weathercock-like1663
flicketing1674
fluxa1677
lapsable1678
wanton1681
veering1684
upon the weathercock1702
contingent1703
unsettled?1726
fermentable1731
afloat1757
brickle1768
wavy1795
vagarious1798
unsettled1803
fitful1810
metamorphosical1811
undulating1815
tittupya1817
titubant1817
mutative1818
papier mâché1818
teetotum1819
vacillating1822
capricious1823
sensitive1828
quicksilvery1829
unengrafted1829
fluxionala1834
proteiform1833
liquid1835
tottlish1835
kaleidoscopic1846
versative1846
kaleidoscopical1858
tottery1861
choppy1865
variative1874
variational1879
wimbly-wambly1881
fluctuable1882
shifty1882
giveable1884
shifty1884
tippy1886
mutatory1890
upsettable1890
rocky1897
undulatory1897
streaky1898
tottly1905
tipply1906
up and down1907
inertialess1927
sometimey1946
rise-and-fall1950
switchable1961
the world > relative properties > relationship > variety > [adjective]
sunderlyeOE
manifoldeOE
selcoutha1000
felefoldc1000
mislichOE
alkinOE
manykinOE
fele-kync1175
serekina1300
sundera1325
sundrya1325
serea1340
divers1340
varyingc1340
variantc1380
muchfoldc1384
serelepesa1400
serelepya1400
multifaryc1460
sundryfoldc1460
multiplicate?a1475
variable?a1475
sundrilyc1480
diversea1542
particoloured1591
multifarious1593
Protean1594
daedal1596
choiceful1605
Daedalian1605
multiplex1606
variated1608
diversified1611
multiplicious1617
variousa1634
multivarious1636
mosaic1644
multiple1647
omnigenous1650
chequered1656
plurifarious1656
ununiform1660
variate1677
disuniform1687
Proteusian1689
unsteady1690
unequable1693
inequable1721
variegating1727
varied1733
multitudinous1744
multifold1806
polygeneous1818
unequalized1822
ruleless1836
varicoloured185.
non-uniform1856
omnigener1857
polytypic1858
multiferous1860
variatious1871
variegated1872
polytypical1890
the world > action or operation > prosperity > [noun] > prosperity or success > career marked by periods of success
chequered career1869
the world > action or operation > adversity > calamity or misfortune > [noun] > misfortune or ill-luck > instance of misfortune or ill-luck > vicissitude
reversea1529
vicissitude1631
up and down1659
chequered career1869
splendours and miseries1943
splendeurs et misères1952
1656 Manasseh ben Israel Vindiciæ Judæorum vii. 38 The checquered, and interwoven vicissitudes, and turns of things here below.
1711 J. Swift Lett. (1767) III. 239 Our weather, for this fortnight past, is chequered, a fair and a rainy day.
1796 Instr. & Regulations Cavalry 247 Manœuvres of a corps retiring..must be more or less accomplished by chequered movements; one body by its numbers, or position, facing and protecting the retreat of another.
1808 W. Scott Marmion iii. Introd. 117 Life's chequered scene of joy and sorrow.
1869 ‘M. Twain’ Innocents Abroad xxxviii. 407 Her career, for eighteen centuries, has been a chequered one.
1881 H. W. Nesfield (title) A Chequered career, or Fifteen years in Australia and New Zealand.
1887 R. L. Stevenson Underwoods i. xii. 24 The chequered silence.
1928 Melody Maker Feb. 188/3 Jay Whidden and his band has had a chequered career as far as the Radio is concerned.
1967 Listener 17 Aug. 203/3 My career with 20th Century Fox was somewhat chequered.
Draft additions June 2016
chequered flag n. Motor Racing a flag with a black-and-white chequered pattern, displayed to drivers at the end of a race; frequently in to take the chequered flag: to win a race.
ΚΠ
1908 Motor May 33/1 The wheels of his car did not cease to turn..until he had seen the wave of the checkered flag.
1958 Times 1 Sept. 13/6 The record pace was kept up until Moss took the chequered flag.
1992 Economist 8 Aug. 26 (advt.) The Mazda on the left screamed down the famous Mulsanne Straight at Le Mans, on past the chequered flag, and into the record books.
2015 M. Webber Aussie Grit xiii. 309 Seb took the chequered flag in Abu Dhabi to win the title.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1889; most recently modified version published online December 2020).
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adj.1486