English → Latin
“check” in Latin
inhibeōto lay hold of, keep back, restrain, curb, check, stop; to hinder, prevent, inhibit; to practise, perform, use, employcohibeōto hold together, contain, confine, comprise; to keep (back), hinder, stay, stop, restrain; to hold in check, limit, repreprimōto repress; to check, prevent or restraincomprimōto compress (squeeze together); to restrain, contain, repress or curb, hinder, check; to withhold or conceal evidences osupprimōto press down or under, suppress; to detain or restrain, suppress; to sinksustineōto hold up or upright, uphold, support, sustain; to keep up, bear up, tolerate; to hold or keep back or in, stay, check,sistōto cause to stand; to set; to place; to stop, to halt; to place oneself; to standincitōto set in rapid motion, hasten, urge forwards, speed up, accelerate, quicken; to cause to grow larger; augment, increaseretardātiōhindering, delaying, retardingretentiōa holding back; holding in; a withholding; a retaining, keeping back; preservation, maintenance
The English word check itself goes back to Latin scaccārium.
Riddle & Arnold A Copious and Critical English–Latin Lexicon, 1864
check v.
inhibere: cohibere: reprimere: comprimere: supprimere: sustinere: sistere (to stop; of living and running objects: inhibere, of lifeless objects in motion: currens sistitur; currus inhibetur. Döderlein’s Synonyms). To check horses, equos sustinere (opposed to agere, incitare): frenare: refrenare (to bridle; to hold in check): coercere (to restrain; hold within proper limits. etc.): obviam ire alicui rei (to meet a difficulty or danger by counter-acting measures): morae esse alicui; moram alicui or alicui rei aflerre (Cic.), inferre, interponere (Caes.): tardare, retardare (delay the execution of an action): one’s breath, animam comprimere (Ter.); spiritum retinere (Cels.., hold ones breath): a vessel, navigium inhibere (stop it): to check a sedition, uproar, etc., seditionem, motus comprimere. A marsh checked the cavalry in their pursuit of the enemy, palus equites ad insequendum hostem tardavit (Caes): to check the enemy, hostium impetum morari (Caes.), retardare, refrenare (Nep.). [Vid. CHECK, s.] To check one’s self, se sustinere, se reprimere se cohibere.
To check an account, rationes contra scribere (after contrascriptor rationum, Inscript).
check s.
retardatio: retentio: inhibitio (act of holding in, delaying, etc): mora (delay). To give a check to anybody [Vid. CHECK, v.] , in mora esse or morae esse alicui; moram alicui afferre (Cic.), inferre, interponere (Caes.), facere (Liv.), objicere, offerre (Plaut.). To hold the enemy in check, hostem morari (Caes.).: efficere, ut hostis retardetur (Nep.): a progressu hostem arcere (Cic.).
Loss, blow, etc., in war, detrimentum: calamitas: incommodum: clades. To receive a check, calamitatem, incommodum or detrimentum accipere (Caes.); incommodum habere or incommodo affici conflictari (Caes.). A slight check, detrimentum parvulum. To give anybody a check (in war), alicui cladem afferre or inferre; alicui detrimentum inferre: alicui detrimento esse (Caes.): alicui incommodum afferre (Caes.). If they should receive any cheek, si adversa pugna evenerit. The state would have received a severe check, magna clades atque calamitas rempublicam oppressisset (Cic.).
Check on anybody for payment, perscriptio: syngiapha: also tessera nummaria (Suet., ). To pay by check, delegatione solutionem perticere (by referring one’s creditor to a third person, Sen.): solvere ab aliquo (Cic.). To give anybody a check upon another, aliquem delegare alicui (Cic.), or ad aliquem (Sen.); alicui delegare aliquem, ab quo fiet numeratio. To honor a check, delegationem recipere: to refuse to honor a check, rescribere pecuniam.
In chess: check to your king, cave regi: to say check to the king, monere, ut caveatur regi.
Countersign, *tessera contra scripta (e.g., at a theatre).
Quick answer
- What is the Latin word for check?
- The usual Latin words for “check” are inhibeō, cohibeō, reprimō; also comprimō, supprimō, sustineō. The right choice depends on the sense; see the distinctions below.
Entry from J. E. Riddle & T. K. Arnold, A Copious and Critical English–Latin Lexicon (rev. C. Anthon, New York: Harper, 1864), digitised by Fergus J. P. Walsh, CC BY-SA 4.0; Latin markup adapted by latindictionary.co.