check vb. (gen. sense ‘restrain, repress’ is freq.)
1.
to stop short “at”
Ham. IV. vii. 62
“As checking at his
voyage, and that he means No more to
undertake it.”
2.
(of a hawk) to leave
its quarry and fly at a chance bird that crosses its
path Tw.N. II. v. 127,
III. i. 72
“Not, like the haggard,
check at every feather.”
3.
to rebuke, reprove,
chide
All'sW. I. i. 77
“check'd for silence,
But never tax'd for speech,”
2H4 I. ii. 224, R3 I. iv. 140, III. vii. 149,
Cæs. IV. iii. 96
“Check'd like a
bondman,”
Lr. II. ii. 149.
4.
to curb, control
John II. i. 123, 3H6 III. ii. 166.
5.
to rein in (horses)
3H6 II. vi. 12.
