checks

1. 1
   noun

   Plural of check.

   The bank declined to honor either of the postdated checks.

   Routine safety checks revealed a small crack in the rear axle.

   Note

   A plural that inherits every meaning of its singular: payment orders, inspections, restraints, threats to a chess king. Three of those meanings are marked American: the bank order, the restaurant bill and the tick mark. The same spelling is also the present-tense verb, and only the sentence tells "routine safety checks" from "she checks the oil."

2. 2
   verb

   Third-person singular simple present of check.

   The auditor checks every receipt against the recorded totals.

   A second valve checks the backflow whenever pressure rises too high.

   Note

   The verb's whole range travels with this form: inspecting, verifying against a source, proofreading a text, ticking items off a list, restraining or halting. The restraining meaning is the one at work when a valve checks backflow, and the scolding meaning is informal. In each of these meanings the verb takes a direct object: she checks the figures, he checks his temper.

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