exchequer

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. n. The British governmental department charged with the collection and management of the national revenue.
2. n. In Great Britain, the Court of Exchequer.
3. n. A treasury, as of a nation or an organization.
4. n. Financial resources; funds.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. n. [capitalized] In England, an ancient court or tribunal, more fully designated the Court of Exchequer, in which all causes affecting the revenues of the crown were tried and decided. In course of time it acquired the jurisdiction of ordinary superior common-law courts, by allowing any suitor who desired to bring his complaint before it to allege that by the defendant's injustice he was prevented from discharging his debts to the king's revenues, which allegation the court did not allow to be denied. The court also had, up to 1841, an equity side. The judges were called barons. In 1875 the court was made the Exchequer Division of the new High Court of Justice.
2. n. [capitalized] In Scotland, a court of similar nature and history, abolished in 1857.
3. n. [capitalized] In the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, that department of the government which has charge of all matters relating to the public revenue of the kingdom, the head of which is called the Chancellor of the Exchequer. See chancellor, 3 .
4. n. A state treasury: as, the war drained the exchequer.
5. n. Pecuniary resources; finances: as, my exchequer was getting low. [Colloq.]
6. To sue in the Court of Exchequer.

Wiktionary

1. n. a treasury
2. n. an available fund of money, especially one for a specific purpose

GNU Webster's 1913

1. n. engraving One of the superior courts of law; -- so called from a checkered cloth, which covers, or formerly covered, the table.
2. n. The department of state having charge of the collection and management of the royal revenue. [Eng.] Hence, the treasury; and, colloquially, pecuniary possessions in general.
3. v. To institute a process against (any one) in the Court of Exchequer.

WordNet 3.0

1. n. the funds of a government or institution or individual