bar vs check

bar

verb
  • To obstruct the passage of (someone or something). 

  • To imprint or paint with bars, to stripe. 

  • To prohibit. 

  • To lock or bolt with a bar. 

prep
  • Except, other than, besides. 

  • Denotes the minimum odds offered on other horses not mentioned by name. 

noun
  • An establishment offering cosmetic services. 

  • Premises or a counter serving any type of beverage. 

  • A solid metal object with uniform (round, square, hexagonal, octagonal or rectangular) cross-section; in the US its smallest dimension is ¹⁄₄ inch or greater, a piece of thinner material being called a strip. 

  • The space between the tusks and grinders in the upper jaw of a horse, in which the bit is placed. 

  • A ridge or succession of ridges of sand or other substance, especially a formation extending across the mouth of a river or harbor or off a beach, and which may obstruct navigation. (FM 55-501). 

  • The central divider between the inner and outer table of a backgammon board, where stones are placed if they are hit. 

  • A broad shaft, band, or stripe. 

  • The bar exam, the legal licensing exam. 

  • A drilling or tamping rod. 

  • A counter, or simply a cabinet, from which alcoholic drinks are served in a private house or a hotel room. 

  • An addition to a military medal, on account of a subsequent act. 

  • A dividing line (physical or notional) in the chamber of a legislature beyond which only members and officials may pass. 

  • A solid, more or less rigid object of metal or wood with a uniform cross-section smaller than its length. 

  • A long, narrow drawn or printed rectangle, cuboid or cylinder, especially as used in a bar code or a bar chart. 

  • A similar sign indicating that the charge on a particle is the negative of its usual value (and that consequently the particle is in fact an antiparticle). 

  • A non-SI unit of pressure equal to 100,000 pascals, approximately equal to atmospheric pressure at sea level. 

  • The counter of such premises. 

  • The sign indicating that the characteristic of a logarithm is negative, conventionally placed above the digit(s) to show that it applies to the characteristic only and not to the mantissa. 

  • A metasyntactic variable representing an unspecified entity, often the second in a series, following foo. 

  • The crossbar. 

  • Any level of achievement regarded as a challenge to be overcome. 

  • A vertical line across a musical staff dividing written music into sections, typically of equal durational value. 

  • A linear shoaling landform feature within a body of water. 

  • An establishment where alcohol and sometimes other refreshments are served. 

  • Collectively, lawyers or the legal profession; specifically applied to barristers in some countries, but including all lawyers in others. 

  • One of the ordinaries in heraldry; a diminutive of a fess. 

  • Any of various lines used as punctuation or diacritics, such as the pipe ⟨|⟩, fraction bar (as in 12), and strikethrough (as in Ⱥ), formerly (obsolete) including oblique marks such as the slash. 

  • Anything that obstructs, hinders, or prevents; an obstruction; a barrier. 

  • The part of the crust of a horse's hoof which is bent inwards towards the frog at the heel on each side, and extends into the centre of the sole. 

  • A city gate, in some British place names. 

  • An informal establishment selling food to be consumed on the premises. 

  • A business selling alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises, or the premises themselves; a public house. 

  • One of those musical sections. 

  • A vein or dike crossing a lode. 

  • A cuboid piece of any solid commodity. 

  • One of an array of bar-shaped symbols that display the level of something, such as wireless signal strength or battery life remaining. 

  • A gatehouse of a castle or fortified town. 

  • A horizontal pole that must be crossed in the high jump and pole vault. 

  • An official order or pronouncement that prohibits some activity. 

  • A measure of drugs, typically one ounce. 

  • The railing surrounding the part of a courtroom in which the judges, lawyers, defendants and witnesses stay. 

check

verb
  • To act as a curb or restraint. 

  • To inspect; to examine. 

  • To leave with a shipping agent for shipping. 

  • To verify the accuracy of a text or translation, usually making some corrections (proofread) or many (copyedit). 

  • To turn, when in pursuit of proper game, and fly after other birds. 

  • To pass or bounce the ball to an opponent from behind the three-point line and have the opponent pass or bounce it back to start play. 

  • To make a move which puts an adversary's king in check; to put in check. 

  • To crack or gape open, as wood in drying; or to crack in small checks, as varnish, paint, etc. 

  • To disrupt another player with the stick or body to obtain possession of the ball or puck. 

  • To chide, rebuke, or reprove. 

  • To announce that one is remaining in a hand without betting. 

  • To verify or compare with a source of information. 

  • To leave in safekeeping. 

  • To control, limit, or halt. 

  • To mark items on a list (with a checkmark or by crossing them out) that have been chosen for keeping or removal or that have been dealt with (for example, completed or verified as correct or satisfactory). 

  • To slack or ease off, as a brace which is too stiffly extended. 

  • To make checks or chinks in; to cause to crack. 

  • To make a stop; to pause; with at. 

  • To mark with a check pattern. 

noun
  • The forsaking by a hawk of its proper game to follow other birds. 

  • A maneuver performed by a player to take another player out of the play. 

  • Any fabric woven with such a pattern. 

  • A situation in which the king is directly threatened by an opposing piece. 

  • A mark (especially a checkmark: ✓) used as an indicator. 

  • A bill, particularly in a restaurant. 

  • A control; a limit or stop. 

  • An inspection or examination. 

  • A small chink or crack. 

  • A lengthwise separation through the growth rings in wood. 

  • An order to a bank to pay money to a named person or entity. 

  • A mark, certificate, or token by which errors may be prevented, or a thing or person may be identified. 

  • A pattern made up of a grid of squares of alternating colors; a checkered pattern. 

  • A token used instead of cash in gaming machines, or in gambling generally. 

adj
  • Divided into small squares (chequers) by transverse vertical and horizontal lines. 

How often have the words bar and check occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )