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Webster 1913 Edition

Chess

Chess

(chĕs)
,
Noun.
[OE.
ches
, F.
échecs
, prop. pl. of
échec
check. See 1st
Check
.]
A game played on a chessboard, by two persons, with two differently colored sets of men, sixteen in each set. Each player has a king, a queen, two bishops, two knights, two castles or rooks, and eight pawns.

Chess

,
Noun.
(Bot.)
A species of brome grass (
Bromus secalinus
) which is a troublesome weed in wheat fields, and is often erroneously regarded as degenerate or changed wheat; it bears a very slight resemblance to oats, and if reaped and ground up with wheat, so as to be used for food, is said to produce narcotic effects; – called also
cheat
and
Willard’s bromus
.
[U. S.]
☞ Other species of brome grass are called
upright chess
,
soft chess
, etc.

Webster 1828 Edition

Chess

CHESS

,
Noun.
An ingenious game performed by two parties with different pieces, on a checkered board, that is, a board divided into sixty four squares or houses. The success of the game depends almost entirely on skill. Each gamester has eight dignified pieces, called a king, a queen, two bishops, two knights, and two rooks or castles; also eight pawns. The pieces of the parties are of different colors.

CHESS

,
Noun.
In New England, that weed which grows among wheat, and is supposed to be wheat degenerated or changed, as it abounds most in fields where the wheat is winter-killed. It bears some resemblance to oats. This fact is mentioned by Pliny, Nat. Hist. Lib. 18. Ca. 17. Primum omnium frumenti vitium avena est: et hordeum in eam degenerat. This change of wheat and barley into oats, he ascribes to a moist soil, wet weather, bad seed, &c. This opinion coincides with observations in America, as wheat is most liable to perish in moist land, and often in such places, almost all the wheat is killed, and instead of it chess often appears.

Definition 2025

chess

chess

English

Wikibooks

A chess game
A chessboard in initial configuration

Noun

chess ‎(usually uncountable, plural chesses)

  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.
Translations
Related terms
See also
Chess pieces in English · chess pieces, chessmen (see also: chess) (layout · text)
♚ ♛ ♜ ♝ ♞ ♟
king queen castle, rook bishop knight pawn

Etymology 2

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

Noun

chess ‎(plural chesses)

  1. (now chiefly US) Any of several species of grass in the genus Bromus, generally considered weeds.
    • 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 [...].

Etymology 3

Compare French chassis ‎(“a framework of carpentry”).

Noun

chess ‎(plural chesses)

  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.
    (Can we find and add a quotation of Wilhelm to this entry?)
    • Farrow
      Each chess consists of three planks.

Etymology

From Old French eschés, plural of eschec, from Vulgar Latin *scaccus, from Arabic شَاه ‎(šāh, “king in chess”), from Persian شاه ‎(šāh, “shah, king”), from Middle Persian 𐭬𐭫𐭪𐭠 ‎(šāh), from Old Persian 𐏋 ‎(xšāyaθiya). See check.

Pronunciation

  • enPR: chĕs, IPA(key): /tʃɛs/
  • Rhymes: -ɛs

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