Checking

Part of speech: verb, noun

Pronunciation: /ˈt͡ʃɛkɪŋ/

Definitions

1. The act of inspecting or verifying details or accuracy ; the process of authorizing payments or transactions from a bank account
2. The activity of reviewing or confirming information or conditions ; conducting financial transactions by drawing on funds in an account
3. Carefully looking over or assessing something for correctness ; using a checking system to withdraw or pay money from an account

Etymology: The verb "check" began as a chess term. Its ancestor is the Persian "šāh", meaning "king", which passed through Arabic and Medieval Latin into Old French as "eschec". When an opponent's king is attacked, the player announces "check", a warning that the king must be protected. The English noun and then the verb were both built from that chess sense, so every later meaning, from stopping someone to verifying a fact, grew out of a move that threatens a king. The same Persian root also gave English "chess" and "shah", and the word "checkers" traces back to it through a chessboard. The board's chequered squares gave a visual pattern that later became the name for the game of draughts and for patterned cloth. The verb's sense of inspecting or confirming accuracy grew from the idea of holding something back or testing it, much like a chess player halting an advance. Each sense developed from that original chess move.

Synonyms: verifying, examining, inspecting

Antonyms: ignoring, neglecting