Put (an opponent's king) in checkmate in chess, which means the king cannot escape capture and the game is lost; or more generally, to defeat someone completely with no way to escape.
From 'checkmate', derived from Persian 'shah mat' meaning 'the king is dead' (shah = king, mat = dead/defeated). The term entered English through medieval chess players and became standard by the 14th century.
The word 'checkmate' comes from a Persian phrase, showing how chess—invented in ancient India—spread across cultures so thoroughly that its terminology became embedded in languages from English to Russian.
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