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To hinder or check, as growth, expansion, progress, etc.; to stifle. Oats and darnel choke the rising corn. Dryden.

A costly cloth, of uncertain material, used in the Middle Ages. [Obs.] [Written also checklaton, chekelatoun.] His robe was of ciclatoun, That coste many a Jane. Chaucer.

To make exchanges of checks and bills, and settle balances, as is done in a clearing house.

A method adopted by banks and bankers for making an exchange of checks held by each against the others, and settling differences of accounts.

he ancient, honest, juridical principles and institutions of England are so many clogs to check and retard the headlong course of violence and opression. Burke.

To hold in check; to restrain. [R.] Carlyle.

To affect as if by freezing; to check the flow of, or cause to run cold; to chill.

A trench guarded with a parapet, constructed by besiegers, to secure themselves and check sallies of the besieged.

A duplicate book, register, or account, kept to correct or check another account or register; a counter register. [Obs.] Johnson.

Capable of being controlled, checked, or restrained; amenable to command. Passion is the drunkeness of the mind, and, therefore, . . . not always controllable by reason. South.

A drag or brake applied to the wheels of a carriage, to check their velocity in going down a hill. Knight.

lar spasms, as in excessive laughter, or in agony from grief or pain. With emotions which checked his voice and convulsed his powerful frame. Macaulay.

prefix meaning contrary, opposite, in opposition; as, counteract, counterbalance, countercheck. See Counter, adv. & a.

A duplicate roll (record or account) kept by an officer as a check upon another officer's roll. Burrill.

To checker; to diversify, as in heraldic counterchanging. See Counterchaged, a., 2. With-elms, that counterchange the floor Of this flat lawn with dusk and bright. Tennyson.

The part of a writing (as the stub of a bank check) in which are noted the main particulars contained in the corresponding part, which has been issued.

A wedge, or brake, to check the motion of a machine or car; a chock. Knight.

a curb; to bend to one's will; to subject; to subdue; to restrain; to confine; to keep in check. Part wield their arms, part curb the foaming steed. Milton. Where pinching want must curbthy warm desires. Prior.

ation below the rates established between competing lines. -- To cut short, to arrest or check abruptly; to bring to a sudden termination. "Achilles cut him short, and thus replied." Dryden. -- To cut stick, to make off clandestinely or precipitately. [Slang] -- To cut teeth, to put forth teeth; to have the teeth pie…

To put out, as fire; to depress or deject; to deaden; to cloud; to check or restrain, as action or vigor; to make dull; to weaken; to discourage. "To damp your tender hopes." Akenside. Usury dulls and damps all industries, improvements, and new inventions, wherein money would be stirring if it were not for this slug. B…