Emily Dickinson Lexicon

CHECK'ER, v.t. [from check, or perhaps directly from the Fr. echiquier, a chess-board. Norm. escheqir, or chekere, exchequer.]

1. To variegate with cross lines; to form into little squares, like a chess-board, by lines or stripes of different colors. Hence,
2. To diversify; to variegate with different qualities, scenes, or events. Our minds are, as it were, checkered with truth and falsehood. – Addison.