▪ I. cheese, n.1
(tʃiːz)
Forms: 1 cese, cyse, 2 cease, cæse, 5 schese, 6 chease, cheise, chiese, ches, 2–6 chese, 4, 6– cheese.
[OE. (Anglian) cése, (WSax.) *c{iacu}ese, c{yacu}se (with i- umlaut from céasi, cǽsi) = OHG. châsi (MHG. kæse, Ger. käse), OLG. kâsi, kêsi (MDu. kâse, Du. kaas):—WGer. *kâsi, ad. L. cāse-us cheese (bef. 5th c.).]
1. a. A substance used as food, consisting of the curd of milk (coagulated by rennet) separated from the whey and pressed into a solid mass.
| a 1000 Gloss. in Wr.-Wülcker 23 Formaticus, cese. a 1000 ælfric Colloquy, ibid. 91 And cyse and buteran ic do. a 1154 O.E. Chron. an. 1131 Þa scyrte ða flescmete and se ceose and se butere. c 1175 Lamb. Hom. 53 Þenne þe mon wule tilden his musestoch he bindeð uppon þa swike chese. a 1300 Havelok 643 Bred an chese, butere and milk. 1377 Langl. P. Pl. B. v. 93 A weye of essex chese. c 1460 J. Russell Bk. Nurture in Babees Bk. (1868) 123 Hard chese..wille a stomak kepe..open. 1598 Shakes. Merry W. v. v. 147 Tis time I were choak'd with a peece of toasted Cheese. 1712 Addison Spect. No. 538 ¶3 Such who could indeed bear the sight of cheese, but not the taste. 1806 Forsyth Beauties Scotl. III. 349 Hung cheese..It is called hung when the curds are tied up in a cloth or net, to get quit of the whey..instead of being put under the press. 1870 Yeats Nat. Hist. Comm. 284 The rich flavour of Parmesan cheese is owing to the aromatic plants which abound in the Italian pastures. |
b. (with
pl.) A mass of this substance, as made in the mould or press, of a definite size and shape (usually wheel-shaped, cylindrical, or globular), and covered with its hardened outer layer or ‘rind’.
| 1362 Langl. P. Pl. A. vii. 268 Twey grene cheeses. 1382 Wyclif 1 Sam. xvii. 18 And ten chesis thes thou shalt bere to the tribune. 1555 Eden Decades W. Ind. ii. i. (Arb.) 109 Twelue barels of meale with a fewe chieses. 1711 J. Distaff Char. Don Sacheverellio 6 The richness of a Cheese is discovered by the multiplicity of its Mites. 1739 Gray Lett. West 21 Nov., Parma,—The happy country where huge cheeses grow. 1842 Barham Ingol. Leg., ‘Ghost,’ The Castle was a huge and antique mound, Resembling..A well-scoop'd, mouldy Stilton cheese—but taller. |
c. For the names of special kinds of cheese, see
cream-cheese,
Cheddar,
Cheshire1,
Parmesan,
Stilton, etc.
d. the Cheeses: a nickname applied to the First Life Guards (see
quot. 1903).
| 1890 Chambers's Jrnl. 19 Apr. 251/2 The old school of officers..sneered at their successors as ‘Cheesemongers’. From this circumstance the regiments acquired the cognomen of the ‘Cheeses’. 1903 Westm. Gaz. 24 Nov. 1/3 More regimental nicknames. That of ‘The Cheeses’ was bestowed on the Life Guards... The old-fashioned officers protested that the regiments were no longer composed of gentlemen but of cheesemongers. |
e. School slang. A smile. Also,
esp. Photographers' colloq., the word ‘cheese’ notionally or actually pronounced to form the lips into a smiling expression.
| 1930 [see cheese v.1 2]. 1956 Punch 1 Feb. 179/1 They are almost certainly just saying cheese, cheese, cheese to hold their smiles while the news reel camera whirls. 1964 New Statesman 17 Apr. 612/3 Her deadpan face mouths a tiny ‘Cheese’ as she is pegged..into focus. |
2. Phrases.
a. green cheese: fresh cheese, not thoroughly dried;
esp. in the expression
to believe (to persuade any one, etc.) that the moon is made of green cheese.
b. bread and cheese: see
bread n. 2 d.
c. chalk and cheese: see
chalk n. 6 a.
| c 1425 Chester Pl. i. 123 Greene cheese that will greese your cheekes. 1542 Boorde Dyetary xiii. (1870) 266 There is .iiii. sortes of..chese..grene chese, softe chese, harde chese, and spermyse. Grene chese is not called grene by the reason of colour, but for the newnes of it, for the whey is not halfe pressed out of it. 1578 Lyte Dodoens ii. xxv. 177 A yong Catt, wherevnto I haue giuen of these floures to eate, very finely pound with greene or fresh Cheese. a 1529 Frith Antith. (1829) 315 They would make men believe..that the moon is made of green cheese. 1611 Cotgr. s.v. Arain, (Wee say of such an Idiot) hee thinkes the Moone is made of greene cheese. 1638 Wilkins New World i. (1684) 13 You may as soon perswade some Country Peasants, that the Moon is made of Green-Cheese (as we say) as that 'tis bigger than his Cart-Wheel. 1783 Ainsworth Lat. Dict. (Morell) i. s.v. Moon, Tell me the moon is made of green cheese! 1863 Kingsley Water Bab. iv. 195. |
d. hard cheese: hard luck.
slang.| 1876 I. Banks Manchester Man III. x. 175 It's hard cheese for a man to owe everything to his father-in-law. 1889 Barrère & Leland Dict. Slang. 240/2 (R.M. Academy), Hard cheese, equivalent to ‘hard lines’, no luck; especially used at billiards. 1922 Ld. F. Hamilton P.J., Secret Service Boy iv. 181 It is rather hard cheese. Ibid. v. 192 ‘Hard cheese!’ condoled Mr. Davenant. 1934 E. Waugh Handful of Dust ii. 90, I think it's hard cheese on Tony. |
3. to make cheeses [F.
faire des fromages]: a school-girl's amusement, consisting in turning rapidly round and then suddenly sinking down, so that the petticoats are inflated all round somewhat in the form of a cheese. Hence, applied sometimes to a deep curtseying.
| 1835 N. P. Willis Pencillings II. xxiv. 283 They remained in dirty white tunics reaching to the floor, and very full at the bottom, so that with the regular motion of their whirl the wind blew them out into a circle, like what the girls in our country call ‘making cheeses’. 1857–9 Thackeray Virgin. xxii (D.), It was such a deep ceremonial curtsey as you never see at present: she and her sister both made these ‘cheeses’ in compliment to the new-comer, and with much stately agility. 1858 De Quincey Autobiog. Sk. vi. (D.), What more reasonable thing could she do than amuse herself with making cheeses? 1881 Besant & Rice Chapl. Fleet ii. iv. (1883) 150 Spinning round like a school-girl when she makes cheeses. 1883 L. Wingfield A. Rowe II. vi. 157 Miss Knight performed a cheese worthy almost of Caroline, and swept away. |
4. transf. a. (in
Cider-making) A mass of pomace or crushed apples pressed together in the form of a cheese.
| 1796 Marshall W. England Gloss. (E.D.S.), Cheese, the pile of pomage, in making cider. 1843 Falkner in Jrnl. Agric. Soc. IV. ii. 402 The cheese of pommey is then removed, to make way for another charge of the press. 1887 T. Hardy Woodlanders II. ix. 149. |
b. A conserve of fruit, etc., having the consistency of cheese or the form of a cheese, as
damson-cheese (see
damson 4 b).
| c 1530 H. Rhodes Bk. of Nurture (1868) 68 Then set downe cheese of fruytes. 1723 J. Nott Cook's & Confectioner's Dict. No. 13 A, Almond cheese. 1845 E. Acton Mod. Cookery xxi. 473 Common cherry cheese. Ibid. 483 Mussel plum cheese and jelly. |
c. (See
quot.).
| 1915 Lit. Digest (N.Y.) 4 Sept. 469/1 The mass of partly crusht grapes, known as ‘must’, goes into large kettles... From this mass of ‘hot must’ are made the ‘cheeses’ that go into the presses. These ‘cheeses’ consist of about two thousand gallons each of grape-must roughly enclosed in heavy cotton-cloth. |
5. a. The fruit of the common Mallow (
Malva silvestris), of a flattened cheese-like shape. (
Cf. F.
fromageon.)
| 1527 Andrew Brunswyke's Distyll. Waters D ij b, Water of malva..the beste parte & tyme of his dystyllacyon is the rote and the stalke whan it bereth cheses and floures. [1578 Lyte Dodoens v. xxiv. 581 The great wilde Mallow..the seede..is rounde and flat, made lyke litle cheeses.] c 1820 J. Clare in Miss Jackson Shropsh. Word-bk. s.v., Picking from mallows, sport to please, The crumpled seed we call a cheese. 1861 Mrs. Lankester Wild Flowers 41. |
b. Applied to various objects shaped like a cheese: see
quots.| 1859 Sala Tw. round Clock 131 A dry skittle-ground, where every day..I exercised myself with the wooden ‘cheese’ against the seven and a-half pins. 1884 W. S. B. M{supc}Laren Spinning 218 The slivers, however drawn off, are automatically wound on to wooden rollers... These balls, or cheeses, as they are generally called, are set in a rack. 1898 Encycl. Sport II. 381 Skittles... Pin and Bowl, or Cheese. 1919 S. Paget Sir V. Horsley I. 10 The boys played the nobler form of the game [of skittles], throwing the discus, the big wooden ‘cheese’. 1921 [see cheeser]. 1946 Jrnl. Inst. Electr. Engin. CXIII. iii. A 32/1 Aerials using parabolic cylindrical reflectors of this type are often known as ‘cheese’ aerials. 1947 Jrnl. R. Aeronaut. Soc. LI. 663/1 The first impellers..were..machined from solid cheeses. These cheeses, which weighed about 500 lb., were the largest forgings that had been made in R.R. 59 at that time. 1950 Electronic Engin. XXII. 431 The corresponding level for a parabolic cylinder (a ‘cheese’) which is the best of the mirror systems in this respect, is between 18 and 22 db. 1954 Gloss. Terms Iron & Steel (B.S.I.) vi. 10 Cheese, a roughly cylindrical forging with convex sides formed by upending ingot or billet lengths between flat tools. 1960 G. Lewis Handbk. Crafts 100 Take two ‘cheeses’ of cotton, place them on a spool rack [etc.]. 1963 A. J. Hall Textile Sci. iv. 197 Machines used for dyeing yarn wound in the form of cheeses and cones. |
6. Comb., as
cheese-basket,
cheese-chamber,
cheese-chandler,
cheese-cover,
cheese-curd,
cheese-factor,
cheese-grater,
cheese-loft,
cheese-maker,
cheese-making,
cheese-room,
cheese-scraper,
cheese-shelf,
cheese-trencher,
cheese-tub;
cheese-like,
cheese-shaped adjs.| c 1632 Fuller in Gutch Coll. Cur. I. 226 Cheshire for the *cheesechamber, Northumberland for the colehouse. 1740 Mrs. Delany Autobiog. (1861) II. 120, I must now..go see what's doing in the cheese-chamber and the apple-loft. |
| 1608 R. Armin Nest Ninn. (1842) 29 [He] breakes open the dairy house, eats and spoils new *cheesecurds. 1695 Congreve Love for Love iii. vii, I an't Calf enough to lick your chalk'd Face, you Cheese-Curd you. |
| 1707 Lond. Gaz. No. 4347/4 John Lee..*Cheese-Factor. |
| 1848 B. D. Walsh Aristoph. 143 note, With brazen *cheesegrater grated cheese. |
| 1845 Budd Dis. Liver 329 Encysted tumors, containing a *cheese-like matter. |
| 1629 Inv. in Trans. Essex Archæol. Soc. (New Ser.) III. ii. 174 In the *Cheese Lofte. 1824 Miss Mitford Village Ser. i. (1863) 221 The apple-room, the pear-bin, the cheese-loft. |
| 1868 Mich. Board Agric., Rep. VII. 237 The *cheese-maker watching all the conditions. 1946 Nature 9 Nov. 644/1 Cheese-makers and other industrialists have discovered the importance to them of microbiology. |
| 1846 J. Baxter Libr. Pract. Agric. I. 201 Process of *Cheese-making. |
| 1837 Penny Cycl. VII. 14/2 The *cheese-room is always very cool, and little light is admitted. |
| 1850 Denison Clock & Watch-m. 193 Such rollers..would require greater accuracy in making than these ‘*cheese-shaped’ rollers. 1947 Crowther & Whiddington Sci. at War 48 These problems were solved by designing a rotating aerial and reflector. The latter was cheese-shaped. |
| 1629 Inv. in Trans. Essex Archæol. Soc. (New Ser.) III. ii. 3 *cheese shelves w{supt}{suph} 3 stories. |
| 1607 Dekker Northw. Hoe iii. i. Wks. 1873 III. 38 A dozen of *cheese trenchers. |
| 1629 Inv. in Trans. Essex Archæol. Soc. (New Ser.) III. ii. 173 In the Dayrie..ii *cheese tubbes. 1651 in Mayflower Descendant X. 161 Item, 2 beere vessells & one Cheestubb. 1688 Cheese Tub [see ladder n. 3]. 1879 in Cassell's Techn. Educ. IV. 247/1 A cheese-tub large enough to hold all the milk of the cows. |
7. Special comb.:
cheese and bread, is used in
north. dial. for the literary
bread and cheese;
cheese-bail [see
bail n.2]
= cheese-hoop;
cheese-board,
† -bred, (
a) the cover of a cheese-vat; (
b) a board from which cheese is served;
cheese-borer?
= cheese-scoop;
cheese-box, a box for holding cheese; also
transf.,
U.S. = cheese-tub (
b);
cheese-bug, local name (Kent) of the wood-louse:
cf. cheese-lip;
cheese-cement (see
quot.);
cheese cloth,
† -clout, the cloth in which the curds are pressed; now used also for costumes, curtains, wrapping for food, etc.;
cheese-cratch,
-crate = cheese-rack;
cheese-cutter, (
a) an instrument with a broad curved blade used for cutting cheese; also, a device for cutting cheese by pulling a wire through it; (
b)
slang (see
quot.); various
techn. uses (see
quots. 1848, 1927, and 1932);
cheese fingers, puff paste on which a cheese mixture is spread, the paste being then folded over, cut into strips, and baked;
cheese-fly, a small black fly (
Piophila casei) bred in cheese (see
cheese-hopper);
cheese-hake (
Sc.),
† -heck = cheese-rack;
cheese-head, the head of a rivet or screw shaped like a squat cylinder;
freq. attrib.; so
cheese-headed adj.;
cheese-hoop, a broad hoop, usually of wood, in which the curds are pressed in cheese-making;
cheese-hopper, the maggot of the cheese-fly, which makes long jerky leaps; also the fly;
cheese-knife, (
a)
= cheese-cutter; (
b) a spatula used to break down curd in cheese-making;
cheese ladder (see
ladder n. 3);
cheese-maggot = cheese-hopper;
cheese-mite, the minute arachnid (
Acarus domesticus) which infests old cheese;
† cheese-moat = cheese-vat;
cheese-mould, (
a) a mould or form in which cheese is pressed, a
chessel; (
b) the blue mould which forms on cheese;
cheese-pale = cheese-taster;
cheese-plate, a small plate, 5 or 6 inches in diameter, used for cheese at the end of dinner; hence
cheese-plate button (or simply
cheese-plate), humorous name for a large flat coat-button;
cheese-rack, a frame for drying new-made cheeses;
cheese-ramekin: see
ramekin;
cheese-scoop,
cheese-taster, an instrument with a small scoop for piercing cheese and withdrawing a small portion to be tasted;
cheese straw, (
usu. in
pl.) thin strips of pastry flavoured with cheese;
cheese-toaster, a fork for toasting cheese; hence
humorously, a sword;
cheese-tub, (
a) (sense 6); (
b)
transf., a contemptuous name for a monitor vessel (
cf. cheese-box);
† cheese-water, a water distilled from cheese;
cheese-wring = cheese-press.
| 1888 Sussex Archæol. Coll. XXXVI. 120 A *cheesebail is the Hoop that encompasses and gives form to the cheese in the press. |
| 1552 Huloet *Chease bourde, Albeolus, Albeus, Alcanna. 1615 Markham Eng. Housew. ii. vi. (1668) 151 Lay upon the top of the curd your hard Cheese-board. c 1938 Fortnum & Mason Catal. 64/1 Cheese Boards—Walnut—each 3/6. 1963 V. Canning Limbo Line xiv. 191 They..asked the girl to bring the cheese board, saying they wanted to try some local cheeses. |
| 1746 Brit. Mag. 12 A strong Iron Screw, something like an Augur or *Cheese-borer. |
| 1855 Knickerbocker XLV. 14 A *cheese-box, used as a tanning-vat. 1862 N.Y. Tribune 10 June, Where is the Monitor? We have not heard a word of the little cheese-box since the repulse in James River until yesterday. 1866 E. A. Pollard Southern Hist. War I. xi. 278 Here, there, and everywhere, was the black ‘cheese-box’. 1872 Schele de Vere Americanisms 335 Irreverent Confederates called the hideous-looking vessels cheese-boxes. 1878 E. B. Tuttle Border Tales 17 One of the red⁓skins having manufactured a drum by stretching a deer⁓skin over the rim of a cheesebox. |
| 1629 Inv. in Trans. Essex Archæol. Soc. (New Ser.) III. ii. 173 In the Dayrie..i *cheese bread. |
| 1847 Craig, *Cheese Cement, a kind of glue, particularly serviceable in joining broken china, wood that is exposed to wet, painter's panel boards, etc. [cf. W. Bullein Bk. Simples (1562) 85 a, Whan stone pottes be broken, what is better to glew them againe..like the Symunt made of Cheese.] |
| 1657 Mass. Hist. Soc. Coll. 4th Ser. VII. 83 Your maid likewise wants vessells for to sett milke in, & some cheese clothes. 1741 Compl. Fam.-Piece i. ii. 124 Then lay a Cheese-cloth in your lesser Cheese Fat. 1837 Penny Cycl. VII. 14/2 The whey runs out through the..cheese-cloth woven with wide interstices. 1892 V. Kellogg Kansas Insects 65 Wires thrust in the ground so as to form two crossing arches,..and covered with cheese cloth or netting, do well. 1931 H. Price Regurgitation & Duncan Mediumship 38 The veiling looks exactly like a long piece of fine, thin woven material, such as butter muslin or cheese cloth. 1932 Times Lit. Suppl. 21 Apr. 284/4 The supposed veil of ectoplasm..proved to be nothing more than a sheet of cheese-cloth, which she had swallowed and was able to regurgitate at will. 1944 Living off Land v. 109 Tanks..are best dealt with by screening all openings with a protective wire mesh or even cheese cloth. |
| c 1640 J. Smyth Lives Berkeleys (1883) I. 303 Cheese vates, *cheese clouts and other perticulars. |
| 1656 W. Dugard Gate Lat. Unl. §346. 97 Shee drieth the cheeses in a *chees-cratch, or chees-rack. |
| 1853 Hickie tr. Aristoph. (1887) I. 119 Redolent of new wine, of the *cheese-crate. |
| 1848 Sinks of London Laid Open 102/2 *Cheese cutters, bandy legs. 1873 Slang Dict., Cheesecutter, a prominent and aquiline nose. Also a large square peak to a cap. Caps fitted with square peaks are called cheesecutter caps. 1886 Barnes Dorset Dial., Cheesecutter, a cap with a straight peak. 1927 G. Bradford Gloss. Sea Terms 33/2 Cheese-cutter, a type of centerboard. 1932 Flight 25 Mar. 254/1 The notched quadrant in the front cockpit is the main ‘cheese cutter’. 1932 D. Garnett Rabbit in the Air iii. 66 There is also a so-called ‘tail-incidence lever’, or cheese-cutter. 1963 Times 6 May p. viii/3 (Advt.), An instrument rather like a wire cheese-cutter was designed. |
| 1885 Tasty Dishes 125 *Cheese Fingers..roll out and cut into strips about three inches long, roll round, and bake. |
| 1846 J. Baxter Libr. Pract. Agric. II. 5 No caterpillars nor grubs, except the maggot of the small *cheese fly..can jump. |
| 1888 Lockwood's Dict. Terms Mech., Engin. *Cheese Head Rivet... Cheese Head Screw. 1907 Install. News Oct. 10/2 A small cheese head screw and washer [are] used to bind it. 1908 Ibid. II. 110/1 The binding screws..have cheese heads which permit of a deep slot for screwing up. 1950 L. S. Sasieni Spectacle Fitting i. 26 The joint pin may be..a cheese-head screw, the head of which lies within a countersink in one of the outer parts of the chernier. 1930 Engineering 26 Dec. 815/2 This grid can be removed by loosening three cheese-headed screws. |
| 1611 Cotgr., Chasiere, a *cheese-hecke; the long and round racke whereon cheese is dried. 1615 Markham Eng. Housew. (1660) 152 Throughly dry, and fit to go into the Cheese-heck. |
| 1836–9 Todd Cycl. Anat. II. 949/1 The maggot of the *Cheese-hopper. |
| 1743 Ellis Mod. Husb. May vii. 97 The Cloth must be tucked in with a wooden *Cheese Knife. 1833 Marryat P. Simple Instead of being straight, his shins curve like a cheese-knife. 1839 Mag. Domestic Econ. Feb. 240 The curd..is cut through with a double or triple bladed cheese-knife. |
| 1694 A. van Leeuwenhoek in Phil. Trans. XVIII. 199, I put some *Cheese-Maggots in a Glass Tube in my Pocket. |
| 1813 Bingley Anim. Biog. III. 352 The *cheese-mite. To the naked eye, these minute creatures appear little more than moving particles of dust. 1816 Kirby & Sp. Entomol. (1843) II. 269. |
| 1617 Moryson Itin. iii. iv. ii. 180 The attire of the Irish women's heads is more flat in the top, and broader on the sides, not much vnlike a *cheese mot. 1629 Inv. Hatfield Priory in Trans. Essex Archæol. Soc. (New Ser.) III. ii. 173 In the Dayrie..4 cheesemoates i wicker cheesemoate. |
| 1850 Thackeray Pendennis I. 44 A white upper coat ornamented with *cheese-plate buttons. 18.. ― Night's Pleas. Wks. 1883 IX. iv. 290 A bang-up white coat, covered with mother-of-pearl cheese-plates. 1865 Reader 18 Nov. 573 With tonsures as large as cheese-plates. |
| 1530 Palsgr. 204/2 *Chese rake, caisier a frommages. 1789 R. Fergusson Poems II. 3 (Jam.) My cheese-rack toom that ne'er was toom before. |
| 1725 Fam. Dict. s.v. Ramequin's, To make *Cheese-Ramequins, a Farce is to be prepar'd of the same sort as that describ'd for Cheese-Cakes. 1892 T. F. Garrett Encycl. Pract. Cookery I. 349/1 Cheese Puffs or Ramekins. 1899 Daily News 30 Sept. 7/4 Little individual dishes of devilled macaroni,..cheese ramaquins, etc. |
| 1874 Young Ladies Jrnl. XI. 475/1 Three Receipts for Making *Cheese Straws. 1892 T. F. Garrett Encycl. Pract. Cookery I. 350/2 Cheese Straws,..bake for ten minutes in a quick oven. |
| 1811 L. M. Hawkins C'tess & Gertr. 52 Pocketing the *cheese-taster. 1887 Daily Tel. 15 Mar. 5/2 Testing it [the earth's] interior composition as a grocer tries a Dutch cheese with a cheese-taster. |
| 1710 Steele Tatler No. 245 ¶2 A Silver *Cheese-Toaster with Three Tongues. 1859 Thackeray Virgin. x. (D.) I'll drive my cheese-toaster through his body. |
| 1867 J. T. Headley Farragut & Nav. Commanders 519 But all this time, Worden in his ‘cheese-tub’, as the rebels called her, was crowding all steam to overtake his powerful adversary. |
| 1599 A. M. tr. Gabelhouer's Bk. Physicke 254/2 Wash yourselfe with the *cheese-water mixed with the Camphir. 1888 Elworthy W. Somerset Wdbk., Cheese-wring, a cheese-press, found in every dairy. A rock at Lynton is called [from its shape] ‘the Devil's Cheese-wring’. |
▸
cheese spread n. a spread for bread, etc., made from cream cheese or (now more usually) processed cheese.
| 1922 Good Housekeeping's Bk. of Menus, Recipes, & Househ. Discov. 82 *Cheese spread. 5 small packages cream cheese. 1 cupful raisins. 1 cupful walnut-meats... 1 cupful coconut. 2 tablespoonfuls lemon-juice. 1936 Times 11 July 21/2 This is cheese which spreads readily, and is known as ‘Blue Cap’ Cheese Spread. 1975 Daily Colonist (Victoria, Brit. Columbia) 12 July 1/2 The cosmonauts will dine on steak in plastic pouches, rye bread, cheese spread, rehydrated strawberries [etc.]. 1997 T. Mackintosh-Smith Yemen (1999) iii. 52 Boiled sweets, cheese spread triangles, two small tins of tuna—all these to be considered as treats. |
▸
cheese wire n. chiefly
Brit. a length of thin metal wire,
esp. one fitted with a handle at each end, used for slicing cheese or similar purposes; also as a mass noun.
| 1887 B. Tupholme Brit. Patent 10,473 (1888) 1 (title) Improvements in *cheese wire handles and the method of securing steel and other wire to the same. 1961 Brit. Bee Jrnl. 29 Apr. 102/1 When the time comes to harvest the honey a cheese wire is used to separate the cobs and the honey left on the hives. 2001 Financial Times 27 Jan. (Business Suppl.) 32/2 The tools whose importance varies according to the chef's assignment: poultry shears, cheese wire, ravioli tins and slicers for everything from tomatoes to truffles. |
▸
colloq. (
orig. U.S.). After
cheesy adj. Entertainment, etc., which is hackneyed, unsubtle, or excessively sentimental,
esp. if nevertheless appealing; ‘tack’, ‘schmaltz’, ‘corn’.
| 1990 St. Louis (Missouri) Post-Dispatch (Nexis) 4 Mar. 4 c, I get so tired of music that's uninventive and unoriginal. My friends and I call that ‘cheese music’—you know, music that's bland, tasteless, schlocky. 1991 Washington Times (Nexis) 3 May e5 You hate to see her submit to such blatant TV cheese. 1994 Generator Dec. 63/2 He was playing one of the biggest handbag sets that we have ever heard... Can you you tell us if he had indeed sold-out and is now playing ‘cheese’? 1996 Entertainm. Weekly 31 May 27/1 The director, with his love of '70s cheese, gave John Travolta back his cool by casting him as Vincent the hitman in Pulp Fiction. 1999 Mixmag Apr. 48/3 The critics who say it's a load of cheese and shit like, fuck 'em... Cheese is good, man, if people like dancing to it. |
▪ II. cheese, n.2 slang. (
tʃiːz)
[Of doubtful origin; but prob. a. Pers. and Urdū chīz ‘thing’. Yule says such expressions used to be common among young Anglo-Indians as ‘My new Arab is the real chīz’, i.e. ‘the real thing’.] 1. The right or correct thing: applied to anything good, first-rate in quality, genuine, pleasant, or advantageous.
| 1818 Lond. Guide (cited in Slang Dict. 1873). 1847 Alb. Smith Man in Moon I. 201 Admired ‘Pets of the Ballet’..in a print-shop window. Thought them the cheese as works of art. c 1850 Thackeray Codlingsby iii, ‘You look like a Prince in it, Mr. Lint’..‘It is the cheese’, replied Mr. Lint. |
2. Wealth and fame (
quot. a 1910). Also, an important or self-important person (
freq. the big cheese). Usu. derogatory.
slang (chiefly
U.S.).
| a 1910 ‘O. Henry’ Unprof. Servant in Wks. (1928) 805 Del had crawled from some Tenth Avenue basement like a lean rat and had bitten his way into the Big Cheese... He had danced his way into..fame in sixteen minutes. 1920 Wodehouse Coming of Bill i. iv. 44 The bunch of cheeses ought to have been highly grateful to Mrs. Dingle for her anti-pugilistic prejudices. 1934 R. Chandler in Black Mask July 64 So the big cheese give me the job. 1939 L. H. Gray Foundations of Lang. 31 He's the big cheese. 1961 J. Masters Road past Mandalay xii. 136 ‘Where's the manager?’ ‘The manager?’ ‘The Bara Sahib. The Big Cheese. The Boss.’ ‘The Brigadier is out.’ 1965 Daily Express 15 Oct. 19/4 As soon as you become to feel a bit of a cheese you become a bad magistrate. |
▪ III. cheese, v.1 rare.
[f. the n.] 1. intr. To become cheese. Hence
ˈcheesing vbl. n. rare.
| 1694 Westmacott Script. Herb. 111 The coagulation, curdling, or cheesing of milk. |
2. School slang. To smile.
| 1930 N. & Q. CLVIII. 119/1 Another slang use of the word ‘cheese’ was in vogue at Rugby School... This was with the meaning ‘smile’, both verb and noun. 1940 M. Marples Public School Slang 40 Cheese..to smile or grin (Oundle 1920+). |
▪ IV. cheese, v.2 slang (
orig. Thieves'). To stop, give up, leave off.
cheese it! = have done! run away!
| 1812 J. H. Vaux Flash Dict., Cheese it, the same as Stow it. 1866 Even. Standard 27 July, As soon as he went up the prisoner Blagin said, ‘Cheese it (run away), here's the bobby coming’. 1873 Slang Dict., Cheese or Cheese it (evidently a corruption of cease) leave off, or have done: ‘Cheese your barrikin’, hold your noise. Term very common. 1880 Times, for the year 1980 4/4 He told the station master at the balloon depôt to cheese it, but thought better of it afterwards. 1882 J. Hawthorne Fort. Fool i. xxxiii, ‘Cheese it, mates! 'ere comes the bobbies!’ 1910 Chesterton Alarms & Discursions 58 Their citizens..will often say ‘Cheese it!’ 1923 Wodehouse Inimit. Jeeves i. 9 He had been clearing away the breakfast things, but at the sound of the young master's voice cheesed it courteously. 1938 ― Code of Woosters xii. 261, I pulled myself together and cheesed the bird imitation. |