Definition of "checkmate" [check•mate]

• To attack (a chess opponent's king) in such a manner that no escape or defense is possible, thus ending the game. (verb-transitive)
• To defeat completely. (verb-transitive)
• A move that constitutes an inescapable and indefensible attack on a chess opponent's king. (noun)
• The position or condition of a king so attacked. (noun)
• Utter defeat. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "But, like English-speakers using the word checkmate, French-speakers typically hear no Persian or Arabic meanings in their phrase."
• "You will have the right to be upset if the REAL important part of the ending, the moral checkmate, is gone."
• "The problem is that Team Obama and Team Reid are so hung up on playing 11-D chess and putting the Rs in checkmate via a filibuster proof majority that they’ve simply perpetuated the meme that it takes 60 votes to get something done in the Senate."