chess

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. n. A board game for two players, each beginning with 16 pieces of six kinds that are moved according to individual rules, with the objective of checkmating the opposing king.
2. n. Any of several species of brome grass, especially the cheat.
3. n. One of the floorboards of a pontoon bridge.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. n. A very ancient game played by two persons or parties with thirty-two pieces on a checkered board divided into sixty-four squares. The squares are alternately light and dark, and in beginning a game the board must be so placed that the square at the right-hand corner is a light one. The vertical rows of squares are called files, those which run from right to left, ranks or lines, and those (of the same color) which run obliquely, diagonals. Each party has sixteen pieces, differently colored to distinguish those of one side from those of the other, viz., a king, a queen, two bishops, two knights, and two rooks or castles, placed on the squares of the end line of the board, and eight pawns placed on the next line in front. The king and queen are placed on the two middle squares, the queen on her own color (light or dark), and by the side of each are placed a bishop, a knight, and a rook, in this order. The pieces move according to certain laws over unoccupied squares, the knight alone being free from this latter restriction (see below). The king moves one square in any direction (except into check); the queen in any direction and to any distance along the rows of squares, and also along the diagonals; the rooks or castles in any direction along the files or ranks of squares; the bishops (of which there is one on each color) in any direction along the diagonals of the color on which they are originally placed; the knights one square on one row and then two squares on the row at right angles to it (or two squares and then one) in any direction, without reference to interposing pieces; and the pawns one square ahead on the files. A piece is taken by removing it from the board and placing the capturing piece in its place. In taking, each piece makes some one of its ordinary moves, except the pawn, which takes by moving one square forward on a diagonal; the knight alone can take by jumping over an intervening piece. The object of the game is to capture the king of the opposing party; and this is effected by an attack so planned that it is impossible, either by moving the opposing king or by interposing another piece, to prevent him from being taken on the next move — that is, by placing the opposing king in a check from which he cannot escape. (See check, checkmate, and stalemate.) The squares of the board are commonly numbered along the files, forward from either party, from the principal pieces placed upon them at the beginning of a game: as, the queen's rook's square (abbreviated Q. R. sq.), queen's rook's second square (Q. R. 2), etc.
2. n. The common name in the United States of several species of Bromus, especially B. secalinus, which bears some resemblance to oats, and is frequently more or less abundant as a weed in wheat-fields. Also called cheat.
3. n. One of the planks forming the roadway of a military bridge. The chesses lie upon the balks, which are longitudinal timbers resting upon the bateaux or pontoons.
4. n. An obsolete variant of chase.
5. n. Obsolete form jess.
6. n. Dice.

Wiktionary

1. n. military One of the platforms, consisting of two or more planks dowelled together, for the flooring of a temporary military bridge.
2. n. now chiefly US A type of grass, generally considered a weed.
3. n. A board game for two players with each beginning with sixteen chess pieces moving according to fixed rules across a chessboard with the objective to checkmate the opposing king.

GNU Webster's 1913

1. n. 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.
2. n. (Bot.), United States 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.

WordNet 3.0

1. n. weedy annual native to Europe but widely distributed as a weed especially in wheat
2. n. a board game for two players who move their 16 pieces according to specific rules; the object is to checkmate the opponent's king