Chess

Pronunciation

• enPR: chÄ•s, IPA: /tʃɛs/
• Rhymes: -É›s

From Old French eschés, plural of eschec, from Vulgar Latin *scaccus, from Arabic شاه (šāh, "king in chess"), from Persian شاه (šāh, "shah, king"), from Middle Persian 𐭬𐭫𐭪𐭠, from Old Persian 𐏋.

Full definition of chess

Noun

1. A board game for two players with each beginning with sixteen chess pieces moving according to fixed rules across a chessboard with the objective to checkmate the opposing king.

Related terms

• chessboard
• chess clock
• chessman
• chess piece
• chess set
• computer chess

Origin uncertain; perhaps linked to Etymology 1, above, from the sense of being arranged in rows or lines.

Noun

1. (now chiefly US) A type of grass, generally considered a weed.
• 2007, Michael Chabon, Gentlemen of the Road, Sceptre 2008, p. 59:Hobbled, loudly gourmandizing the dry chess grass, they were guarded by a pair of dismounted soldiers in long, dusty coats ....

Compare French chassis ("a framework of carpentry").

Noun

1. (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.
• FarrowEach chess consists of three planks.