Learn English – Why is a restaurant bill called a “check”
etymology
Why is a restaurant bill called a "check" (as in "Check, please!")?
Best Answer
This is a good question, and the general references (Online Etymology Dictionary, etc.) are not helpful in getting a definite answer. That is, they give the general etymology of check (it arose from chess, and "All the other senses seem to have developed from this one"), but not of this particular "restaurant bill" sense. Even the Oxford English Dictionary does not explain it; however its classification is suggestive. It says:
14. A means to ensure accuracy, correctness, security from fraud, etc.: as †a. The counterfoil of a bank bill, draft, etc.
. b. A token, usually a memorandum of receipt, a ticket, or piece of metal […] used for the purpose of identification, or as evidence of ownership or title: given, e.g. to the owner of luggage on a railway (as in U.S.), or to one who temporarily leaves luggage, cloaks, […] etc., etc.
. c. A restaurant bill. Chiefly U.S. 1869 A. D. Whitney … I let her settle for the dinner checks. 1910 ‘O. Henry’ … Through an arched opening‥you thrust your waiter's check and the money. 1916Variety … Inspectors‥ordered drinks and paid their check just before one. 1937 R. Stout … I‥found the waitress and got my check from her.
(Looking under cheque, it seems to have arisen as "a differentiated spelling" of check in sense 14a, so the modern meaning of cheque (or American [bank] check) is different from 14c.)
So to answer your question, we don't know exactly, but the heading under which the OED has put the word suggests that they think it came from "a means to ensure (check) correctness". It's not entirely clear what the restaurant bill is meant to check (perhaps the diner checks that he/she is being asked for the correct amount). This listing is still not as definite as an explicit pronouncement on the origin of this sense, so something concrete from a real expert would be useful.
We "check" with someone before coming and going in various circumstances. You mention a hospital; other examples include a hotel, a grocery store, a secure apartment complex. The expression comes from your identity, credentials, or authorization being examined ("checked") on your way in or out.
The expression has been variously extended to encompass other meanings nowadays: "I tried to get Joe to help, but he seems checked out these days" meaning that Joe is disengaged.
Your original question, before and after editing, exhibits yet another example of how subtle English can be; these two sentences mean very different things:
I checked out that hotel; it was awful!
I checked out of that hotel; it was awful!
The first implies you merely examined the hotel; the second implies you were staying there and decided to leave.
Adam’s apple was used to describe an actual fruit before it was used to describe the lump that men have in their throats. That first occurs in 1625 with the explanation:
They call a man Adam, from our first father Adam, whose wife tempted
with the forbidden fruit,‥but as her husband swallowed it, the Hand of
God stopped it in his throat, whence a Man hath a Bunch there, which
women haue not, called by them Adams apple.
Best Answer
This is a good question, and the general references (Online Etymology Dictionary, etc.) are not helpful in getting a definite answer. That is, they give the general etymology of check (it arose from chess, and "All the other senses seem to have developed from this one"), but not of this particular "restaurant bill" sense. Even the Oxford English Dictionary does not explain it; however its classification is suggestive. It says:
(Looking under cheque, it seems to have arisen as "a differentiated spelling" of check in sense 14a, so the modern meaning of cheque (or American [bank] check) is different from 14c.)
So to answer your question, we don't know exactly, but the heading under which the OED has put the word suggests that they think it came from "a means to ensure (check) correctness". It's not entirely clear what the restaurant bill is meant to check (perhaps the diner checks that he/she is being asked for the correct amount). This listing is still not as definite as an explicit pronouncement on the origin of this sense, so something concrete from a real expert would be useful.