From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
A check or cheque is a document instructing a financial institution to pay a specific amount of a specific currency from a specific current account held in the issuer's name with that institution (checking account). Both the issuer and payee may be individuals or commercial entities.
When a party has a bank hold the funds for the amount of a check and guarantee funds will be available for the check to clear, it is referred to as a certified check.
When a check is designed to allow the person signing it to make an unconditional payment to someone else as a result of paying the account holder for that privelege, it is referred to as a travelers check. As travelers checks can usually be replaced if lost or stolen, they are often used by people on vacation in place of cash. The use of credit cards has made travelers checks less important than they previously were, except that some places that will accept travelers checks do not (or cannot) accept credit cards.
A check sold by a post office or merchant such as a grocery, for payment by a third party for a customer is referred to as a money order.
A check issued by a bank on its own account for a customer, for payment to a third party is called a cashiers check. Banks often sell money orders and travelers checks are usually purchased from banks.
An order check—the most common form in the United States—is payable only to the named payee or his endorsee. A bearer check is payable to anyone who is in possession of the document, although checks are often crossed a/c payee to restrict payment to the payee.
In games such as chess, shogi and xiangqi, a check is an immediate threat to capture the king. A king so threatened is said to be in check. Either the threat must be stopped (by interposing a piece between the threatening piece and the king) or the king must be moved to a space where he is no longer in check. In chess, if the king is in check and the threat cannot be stopped by interposing a piece, and the king cannot be moved without placing him back into check at the new location (or the king cannot be moved), the king is said to be checkmated and the game is over.
A v-shaped mark, often in a square, is called a check or a check mark.