in medicine, "having the power to check, repress, or restrain; inhibitory," 1848, from Late Latin catastalticus, from Greek katastaltikos, from katastellein "to keep down, check," from kata "down" (see cata-) + stellein "arrange, set, place" (from PIE *stel-yo-, suffixed form of root *stel- "to put, stand, put in order," with derivatives referring to a standing object or place).
1520s, of horses, "to lead to a curb," from curb (n.). Figurative sense of "bend to one's will, hold in check" is from 1580s. Related: Curbed; curbing.
"account, bill, check," 1888, American English colloquial, probably a shortened form of tabulation or of tablet in the sense "a sheet for writing on." Figurative phrase keep a tab on is recorded from 1890.
1924, "to check for quality" (originally especially of radio signals), from monitor (n.). General sense of "observe, keep under review" is from 1944. Keats used it (1818) as "to guide." Related: Monitored; monitoring.
in reference to writing a fictitious check, 1839, American English, from 1805 phrase fly a kite "raise money by issuing commercial paper on nonexistent funds;" see kite (n.). Related: Kited; kiting.
late 14c., "to check, restrain (sin, error); to overcome, put down, subdue (riot, rebellion);" from Latin repressus, past participle of reprimere "hold back, curb," figuratively "check, confine, restrain, refrain," from re- "back" (see re-) + premere "to press, hold fast, cover, crowd, compress" (from PIE root *per- (4) "to strike").
Used of feelings or desires from late 14c.; in the purely psychological sense "keep out of the conscious mind, keep in the subconscious" it represents German verdrängen (Freud, 1893), that sense of the word first attested in English in 1904 (implied in repressed). Related: Repressed; repressing.
1837, "act of bringing a horse or vehicle to a sudden stop," from the verbal phrase; see pull (v.) + up (adv.). To pull up is attested by early 14c. as "lift (someone or something)," late 14c. as "uproot." By 1887 as "a place for pulling up a vehicle." The noun, as a type of horizontal bar physical exercise involving pulling up the body by means of the arms, is attested by 1891.
The sense of "check a course of action" is from 1808, figurative of the lifting of the reins in horse-riding; pull (v.) in the sense of "check or hold back one's horse to keep it from winning" is by 1800.
"a violent check of a horse by giving a sudden pull on the reins," 1705, from French saccade "a jerk," from obsolete saquer "to shake, pull," a dialectal variant of Old French sachier, which is perhaps ultimately from Latin saccus "sack" (see sack (n.1)). Related: Saccadic.
