▪ 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.)
| 1413 Lydg. Pylgr. Sowle i. xxii. (1859) 27 A shame hath he that at the cheker pleyeth, Whan that a pown seyith to the kyng, chekmate! 1789 Twiss 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.
| a 1346 Pol. Poems (1859) I. 29 In proprio climat tibi dicet aper cito chekmat. c 1374 Chaucer Troylus ii. 752 Shal nonne husbond sey to me ‘chek mate’. c 1430 Lydg. Bochas Prol. 26 Princes, for they be not stable, Fortune full oft..saith to them ‘Checkmate’. 1513 Bradshaw St. Werburgh (1848) 55 Whan dethe with his darte sayth to us chekemate. 1579 Lyly 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.)
| [1426 Audelay Poems 23 After chec for the roke ware fore the mate.] c 1440 Gesta Rom. i. xxi. 71 (Harl. MS.) When he takith [no] kepe of God, and hathe no meyne, than is hit to þe man chekmate. 1562 J. 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. 1564 W. Bullein Dial. pleasaunte & pietifull (1888) 98 I did se..a Parate giue one of their gentlewomen a checkmate at Chesse. 1656 Beale Chesse-Play 11 The maine designe of the game..is as suddenly as can be to give check mate. 1870 Hardy & 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. 1875 Hamerton Intell. Life x. v. 362 Bright ideas about checkmates occur only to persons who have studied chess. |
b. fig. and transf.
| 1520 Whittinton Vulg. (1527) 33 He gaue hym..a dosen chekmates [Lat. sanna, a jeer] or they had done. a 1529 Skelton Dk. Albany 384 Our mayster shall you brynge..to lowe estate, And mate you with chekmate. 1568 Grafton Chron. II. 540 If he then were overcome, the game had for the Englishemen bene clerely gotten, and to the Frenchmen, a perpetuall checkmate. 1579 Spenser Sheph. Cal. Dec. 53 Loue they him called, that gaue me checkmate. 1652 L. S. People's Liberty x. 20 To give a check-mate to Religion. a 1845 Hood Compass xv. His fate, Check-mate. |
c. phr. to play checkmate with.
| c 1500 in Hazl. E.P.P. III. 260 A noble clarke of late..Hath played with them chekmate, Theyr courage to abate. 1522 Skelton Why not to Courte? 585 And he wyll play checke mate With riall maieste, Counte him selfe as good as he. 1572 Gascoigne 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.
| a 1661 B. 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.
| 1509 Hawes Examp. Virt. vi. 73 She her selfe helde her estate In a gloryous chaumbre without chekmate. 1530 Proper Dyaloge (1863) 22 They resorte to lordes and great estates with whom they are dayly checke mates. 1566 Knox Hist. Ref. Wks. 1846 I. 12 Thou should not mack thy self chek-meat to the King. 1577 H. Rhodes Bk. Nurture 321 Then will all your Elders thinke you be with him Iack mate. 1579 Tomson Calvin's Serm. Tim. 18/2 All that proudly would play the checkemates against him. 1600 Holland Livy xxxiv. iii. 854 Untill at length they be checkmates [exæquari] with their husbands. 1647–51 N. 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.
| ? c 1370 Robt. Cicyle 54 With a draght he was checkmate. c 1400 Sowdone Bab. 2926 He cryed ‘alas’! and felle alle chekmate. 1560 Rolland Crt. Venus iv. 334 He is conuict and maid chakmeit. a 1605 Montgomerie 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.)
| 1789 Twiss Chess II. 165 A pawn which was hidden behind a castle checkmated me without mercy. 1847 Staunton Chess-pl. Handbk. 39 He must checkmate his adversary in fifty moves on each side at most. 1856 Whately 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.
| a 1400 Octouian 1746 There was many an hethen hounde, that they chekmatyde [So MS. clearly]. a 1529 Skelton Deedmans Hed 30 Oure days be datyd To be chekmatyd With drawttys of deth. 1571 Golding Calvin on Ps. x. 13 He is despitefully pulled out of his throne, and after a sort checkmated. 1603 Florio Montaigne ii. xxxiv. (1632) 414 As an impetuous or raging torrent..shockes and checkmates what ere it meeteth withall. [1649 Bounds Publ. Obed. 58 At this distance he [Jas. I] contrived how to extinguish or check that mate [the Kirk] there.] 1868 E. Edwards Ralegh I. xxvi. 665 Some..had their own reasons for checkmating the Spaniards in relation to Ralegh, if they could. 1882 J. H. Blunt Ref. Ch. Eng. II. 10 To checkmate their dangerous rival instantly. 1884 Manch. Exam. 2 May 4/7 It will need a stringent clause to checkmate the ingenuity of the local taxmasters. |