to checkerboard
- verb
- /ˈtʃɛkərˌbɔrd/
- US
- To enhance the garden's aesthetics, the landscaper planned to checkerboard the flowerbeds with contrasting blooms.
Examples
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Today, people at Leech Lake control a tiny fraction of the original land base, and the reservation is "checkerboarded," which is to say that state land, federal land, tribal land, allotment land, and private property exist in rather close proximity.
Academic text (2011) -
The artist decided to checkerboard the canvas with different colors to create a vibrant effect.
-
Before the event, they will checkerboard the outdoor seating area, alternating colorful tablecloths.
Synonyms
To mark a surface with a pattern of squares in different colors
Surface Forms
Etymology
To checkerboard something means to mark or arrange it in an alternating square pattern. The verb comes from the noun checkerboard, the game board, so to checkerboard a floor or field is to make it look like that board.