exchequer

• exchecker (obsolete)

From Middle English escheker, from Anglo-Norman escheker (“chessboard”), from Medieval Latin scaccarium. This is because the cloth on which the treasurer counted money was chequered like a chessboard.

• enPR: ĕks-chĕk'-ər, iks-chĕk'-ər: IPA^(key): /ɛksˈt͡ʃɛ.kɚ/, /ɪksˈt͡ʃɛ.kɚ/

• Audio (Southern England):

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exchequer (plural exchequers)

1. An office of revenue taxation; a treasury.
2. An available fund of money, especially one for a specific purpose.
   • 1934, Ernest Bramah, The Bravo of London:

     "A couple, eh, my girl?" he replied, fishing deeply into both his trouser pockets. "You don't mean tanners by any chance? Well, that's the state of the exchequer." Two sixpences and a few coppers were the result of his investigation.

exchequer (third-person singular simple present exchequers, present participle exchequering, simple past and past participle exchequered)

1. (transitive) To proceed against (a person) in the Court of Exchequer.