The Exchequer is the British government office that takes in taxes and pays out public money — the national money-box, in old-fashioned dress. You will meet it most often in the title Chancellor of the Exchequer, the minister who looks after the UK’s money, a bit like a finance minister. News still says money “goes into the Exchequer” or talks about what the Exchequer can afford. Though actually, in modern Britain the everyday name for that department is often the Treasury; Exchequer survives as a grand, historical name, especially in that chancellor title. Long ago it was also a court that heard money cases. The word is usually written with a capital E because it is a proper name, not a general word for any country’s finance office.