ˈcheese-cake
1. a. A cake or tart of light pastry, orig. containing cheese; now filled with a yellow butter-like compound of milk-curds, sugar, and butter, or a preparation of whipped egg and sugar.
| c 1440 Promp. Parv. 73 Chesekake, ortacius. 1530 Palsgr. 204/2 Chese cake, gasteav, torteav. 1588 Marprel. Epist. (Arb.) 40 The dogg flies at the B[ishop] and took of his corner capp (he thought belike it had bene a cheese cake). 1611 Cotgr., Talmouse, a Cheese-cake; a Tart made of egges, and cheese. 1667 Pepys Diary 11 Aug., We..eat some of the best cheese-cakes that ever I eat in my life. 1708 Motteux Rabelais iv. xxx. (1737) 125 Like three corner'd Cheese-Cakes. 1796 H. Glasse Cookery xxi. 318 This we call saffron cheesecakes; the other, without currants, almond cheesecakes. 1853 A. Soyer Pantroph. 292 A sort of cheese-cake, made of cheese, eggs, and butter. |
b. attrib.
| 1644 Pol. Ballads (1860) I. 15 Your [Laud's] cheese-cake cap and magpie gown. a 1718 Prior Alma iii, Effeminate he sat, and quiet; Strange product of a cheese-cake diet. 1741 Lady Pomfret Corr. w. C'tess Hartford iii. 232 Not sculking like a modern hero in a cheescake house. 1788 Marshall E. Yorksh. Gloss. (E.D.S.), Cheese-cake-grass, Lotus corniculatus, birds-foot trefoil. 1876 Robinson Whitby Gloss. (E.D.S.) |
2. Also cheesecake. slang (orig. U.S.). Display of the female form, esp. in photographs, advertisements, etc., in the interest of sex-appeal; female sexual attractiveness. Also attrib. (Cf. beefcake.)
| 1934 Time 17 Sept. 30/2 Tabloid and Heartsmen go after ‘cheesecake’—leg-pictures of sporty females. 1942 Time 24 Aug. 4/1 The supreme Empress of Cheesecake, the very Marlene Dietrich,..was fittingly crowned by the Treasury as the champion bond seller. 1948 Illustrated 6 Mar. 4/1 American magazines sell millions of copies because of their ‘cheesecake’ pictures—‘cheesecake’ being their name for pictures of movie stars or showgirls with beautiful legs and scanty clothing. 1955 E. Hyams Slaughterhouse Informer 109 Is cheese-cake still the best puller? 1958 J. Wain Contenders 212 She had a sexy slouch like a Hollywood cheesecake queen. 1967 New Scientist 13 Apr. 72/3 In flickering torchlight the scenes probably appeared to move. Some of them clearly included cheese-cake and leg shows. |