Words of the Day 11/6/10

Checkmate:  I am sure you will be very familiar with this word of course.

noun
1. Also called mate. Chess .
a. an act or instance of maneuvering the opponent's king into a check from which it cannot escape, thus bringing the game to a victorious conclusion.
b. the position of the pieces when a king is checkmated.
2. a complete check; defeat: His efforts to escape met with a checkmate.
–verb (used with object)
3. Chess . to maneuver (an opponent's king) into a check from which it cannot escape; mate.
4. to check completely; defeat: Napoleon was checkmated at Waterloo.
–interjection
5. Chess . (used by a player to announce that he or she has put the opponent's king into inextricable check.)

Origin,

mid-14c., from O.Fr. eschec mat, from Arabic shah mat "the king died" (see check (n.)), which according to Barnhart is a misinterpretation of Persian mat "be astonished" as mata "to die," mat "he is dead." Hence Persian shah mat, the ultimate source of the word, would be literally "the king is left helpless, the king is stumped." As a verb, from late 14c. Related: Checkmated.

Answer to Which Words 005
Natal  (b)relating to birth
Ovipara (c)egg-laying animal
Pectoral (a)relating to the chest

Which Words 006
Ricotta (a)a small two-wheeled vehicle (b)a soft cottage cheese (c)the opening of the lipped petals of a flower
Sinistral (a)portending evil (b)remarkable (c)relating to the left side
Torsion (a)the act of twisting (b)sluggish inactivity (c)great pain 

The answers will appear in the next word of the day.

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I do know it's what they say in Australia when they want the bill at the end of a meal out.

This is a very curious picture: the white queen is being used to knock the black king over - an unorthodox way of signalling mate.

It's a queen <.< it's got that rounded bumpy thing going on :)

Bump