chess

• POS: Noun

CIDE DICTIONARY

chess, n. [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.  [1913 Webster]

chess, n. 

 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.  [1913 Webster]
" Other species of brome grass are called upright chess, soft chess, etc."  [1913 Webster]

OXFORD DICTIONARY

chess, n. a game for two with 16 men each, played on a chessboard.

Etymology

ME f. OF esches pl. of eschec CHECK(1)

THESAURUS

chess

Monopoly, Ping-Pong, Rugby, Scrabble, archery, association football, backgammon, badminton, bagatelle, ball, bandy, baseball, basketball, battledore and shuttlecock, beano, billiards, bingo, bowling, bowls, boxing, cat, catch, charades, checkers, climbing, crambo, cricket, croquet, curling, discus, dominoes, draughts, fencing, fishing, fives, football, ghost, gliding, go, golf, handball, hide-and-seek, hiking, hockey, hopscotch, horseshoes, hunting, hurdling, ice hockey, jacks, jackstones, jackstraws, keno, lacrosse, lawn tennis, leapfrog, lotto, luging, marbles, merels, motorcycling, mountaineering, mumble-the-peg, ninepins, pall-mall, pallone, pelota, polo, pool, post office, pushball, pyramids, quintain, quoits, racquets, riding, roller skating, rounders, rowing, sailing, sailplaning, sculling, shinny, shooting, shot-put, shuffleboard, skating, skeet, skeet shooting, ski-jumping, skiing, skin-diving, skittles, sledding, snooker, snorkel diving, snowmobiling, soccer, softball, sports, squash, stickball, surfing, table tennis, tennis, tenpins, tent pegging, tetherball, ticktacktoe, tiddlywinks, tilting, tipcat, tivoli, tobogganing, trapshooting, tug of war, volleyball, water polo, waterskiing, wrestling