Check (pattern)
A check (or checker, Brit: chequer,[1] checkerboard, chequerboard) is a pattern consisting of crossed horizontal and vertical lines forming squares.
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[edit] Etymology
The word is derived from the ancient Persian word shah, meaning "king", from the oriental game of chess, played on a squared board, particularly from the expression shah mat, "the king is dead", in modern chess parlance "check-mate". The word entered the French language as echec in the 11th.c.,[2] thence into English.
[edit] Use in fabrics
Check-patterned fabrics display bands in two or more colors in woven cloth. Checks are traditionally associated with Scotland where woven dyed wool was, at one time, a principal cloth. District checks were created as camouflage for moving inconspicuously on the laird's lands. The checks are associated with a specific area as opposed to the tartan of a family or clan. Checks are also used as distinctive patterns for woven cloth in modern designs.
[edit] Other uses
The check pattern is also used in many other areas other than textile styles, for example on a board used by the mediaeval Exchequer to perform financial computations and on a board used for playing chequers (English draughts) and chess and for heraldry.
[edit] See also
[edit] Sources
- Harrison, E.S.;Our Scottish District Checks;National Association of Woollen Manufacturers, Edinburgh;1968 p6.
[edit] References
- ^ Collins Dictionary of the English Language
- ^ Larousse Dictionnaire de la Langue Francaise, Lexis, Paris, 1993
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