checkerwork

noun

1

: work with a checkered pattern : work marked by checks : checkered design

a checkerwork of light and shadow

2

: sequence of changing fortune : vicissitude

the checkerwork of our lives

3

: a structure of firebrick (as in a regenerative furnace) built so that the bricks alternate with open spaces permitting the passage of gases which give heat to or receive heat from the firebrick

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