| 释义 |
▪ 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.) *cíese, cýse (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.
a1000Gloss. in Wr.-Wülcker 23 Formaticus, cese. a1000ælfric Colloquy, ibid. 91 And cyse and buteran ic do. a1154O.E. Chron. an. 1131 Þa scyrte ða flescmete and se ceose and se butere. c1175Lamb. Hom. 53 Þenne þe mon wule tilden his musestoch he bindeð uppon þa swike chese. a1300Havelok 643 Bred an chese, butere and milk. 1377Langl. P. Pl. B. v. 93 A weye of essex chese. c1460J. Russell Bk. Nurture in Babees Bk. (1868) 123 Hard chese..wille a stomak kepe..open. 1598Shakes. Merry W. v. v. 147 Tis time I were choak'd with a peece of toasted Cheese. 1712Addison Spect. No. 538 ⁋3 Such who could indeed bear the sight of cheese, but not the taste. 1806Forsyth 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. 1870Yeats 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’.
1362Langl. P. Pl. A. vii. 268 Twey grene cheeses. 1382Wyclif 1 Sam. xvii. 18 And ten chesis thes thou shalt bere to the tribune. 1555Eden Decades W. Ind. ii. i. (Arb.) 109 Twelue barels of meale with a fewe chieses. 1711J. Distaff Char. Don Sacheverellio 6 The richness of a Cheese is discovered by the multiplicity of its Mites. 1739Gray Lett. West 21 Nov., Parma,—The happy country where huge cheeses grow. 1842Barham 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).
1890Chambers'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’. 1903Westm. 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]. 1956Punch 1 Feb. 179/1 They are almost certainly just saying cheese, cheese, cheese to hold their smiles while the news reel camera whirls. 1964New 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.
c1425Chester Pl. i. 123 Greene cheese that will greese your cheekes. 1542Boorde 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. 1578Lyte Dodoens ii. xxv. 177 A yong Catt, wherevnto I haue giuen of these floures to eate, very finely pound with greene or fresh Cheese. a1529Frith Antith. (1829) 315 They would make men believe..that the moon is made of green cheese. 1611Cotgr. s.v. Arain, (Wee say of such an Idiot) hee thinkes the Moone is made of greene cheese. 1638Wilkins 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. 1783Ainsworth Lat. Dict. (Morell) i. s.v. Moon, Tell me the moon is made of green cheese! 1863Kingsley Water Bab. iv. 195.
d. hard cheese: hard luck. slang.
1876I. Banks Manchester Man III. x. 175 It's hard cheese for a man to owe everything to his father-in-law. 1889Barrère & Leland Dict. Slang. 240/2 (R.M. Academy), Hard cheese, equivalent to ‘hard lines’, no luck; especially used at billiards. 1922Ld. F. Hamilton P.J., Secret Service Boy iv. 181 It is rather hard cheese. Ibid. v. 192 ‘Hard cheese!’ condoled Mr. Davenant. 1934E. 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.
1835N. 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’. 1857–9Thackeray 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. 1858De Quincey Autobiog. Sk. vi. (D.), What more reasonable thing could she do than amuse herself with making cheeses? 1881Besant & Rice Chapl. Fleet ii. iv. (1883) 150 Spinning round like a school-girl when she makes cheeses. 1883L. 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.
1796Marshall W. England Gloss. (E.D.S.), Cheese, the pile of pomage, in making cider. 1843Falkner in Jrnl. Agric. Soc. IV. ii. 402 The cheese of pommey is then removed, to make way for another charge of the press. 1887T. 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).
c1530H. Rhodes Bk. of Nurture (1868) 68 Then set downe cheese of fruytes. 1723J. Nott Cook's & Confectioner's Dict. No. 13 A, Almond cheese. 1845E. Acton Mod. Cookery xxi. 473 Common cherry cheese. Ibid. 483 Mussel plum cheese and jelly.
c. (See quot.).
1915Lit. 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.)
1527Andrew 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. [1578Lyte Dodoens v. xxiv. 581 The great wilde Mallow..the seede..is rounde and flat, made lyke litle cheeses.] c1820J. Clare in Miss Jackson Shropsh. Word-bk. s.v., Picking from mallows, sport to please, The crumpled seed we call a cheese. 1861Mrs. Lankester Wild Flowers 41.
b. Applied to various objects shaped like a cheese: see quots.
1859Sala 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. 1884W. S. B. McLaren 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. 1898Encycl. Sport II. 381 Skittles... Pin and Bowl, or Cheese. 1919S. 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]. 1946Jrnl. Inst. Electr. Engin. CXIII. iii. A 32/1 Aerials using parabolic cylindrical reflectors of this type are often known as ‘cheese’ aerials. 1947Jrnl. 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. 1950Electronic 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. 1954Gloss. 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. 1960G. Lewis Handbk. Crafts 100 Take two ‘cheeses’ of cotton, place them on a spool rack [etc.]. 1963A. 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.
c1632Fuller in Gutch Coll. Cur. I. 226 Cheshire for the *cheesechamber, Northumberland for the colehouse. 1740Mrs. Delany Autobiog. (1861) II. 120, I must now..go see what's doing in the cheese-chamber and the apple-loft.
1608R. Armin Nest Ninn. (1842) 29 [He] breakes open the dairy house, eats and spoils new *cheesecurds. 1695Congreve Love for Love iii. vii, I an't Calf enough to lick your chalk'd Face, you Cheese-Curd you.
1707Lond. Gaz. No. 4347/4 John Lee..*Cheese-Factor.
1848B. D. Walsh Aristoph. 143 note, With brazen *cheesegrater grated cheese.
1845Budd Dis. Liver 329 Encysted tumors, containing a *cheese-like matter.
1629Inv. in Trans. Essex Archæol. Soc. (New Ser.) III. ii. 174 In the *Cheese Lofte. 1824Miss Mitford Village Ser. i. (1863) 221 The apple-room, the pear-bin, the cheese-loft.
1868Mich. Board Agric., Rep. VII. 237 The *cheese-maker watching all the conditions. 1946Nature 9 Nov. 644/1 Cheese-makers and other industrialists have discovered the importance to them of microbiology.
1846J. Baxter Libr. Pract. Agric. I. 201 Process of *Cheese-making.
1837Penny Cycl. VII. 14/2 The *cheese-room is always very cool, and little light is admitted.
1850Denison Clock & Watch-m. 193 Such rollers..would require greater accuracy in making than these ‘*cheese-shaped’ rollers. 1947Crowther & Whiddington Sci. at War 48 These problems were solved by designing a rotating aerial and reflector. The latter was cheese-shaped.
1629Inv. in Trans. Essex Archæol. Soc. (New Ser.) III. ii. 3 *cheese shelves wth 3 stories.
1607Dekker Northw. Hoe iii. i. Wks. 1873 III. 38 A dozen of *cheese trenchers.
1629Inv. in Trans. Essex Archæol. Soc. (New Ser.) III. ii. 173 In the Dayrie..ii *cheese tubbes. 1651in Mayflower Descendant X. 161 Item, 2 beere vessells & one Cheestubb. 1688Cheese Tub [see ladder n. 3]. 1879in 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.
1888Sussex Archæol. Coll. XXXVI. 120 A *cheesebail is the Hoop that encompasses and gives form to the cheese in the press.
1552Huloet *Chease bourde, Albeolus, Albeus, Alcanna. 1615Markham Eng. Housew. ii. vi. (1668) 151 Lay upon the top of the curd your hard Cheese-board. c1938Fortnum & Mason Catal. 64/1 Cheese Boards—Walnut—each 3/6. 1963V. Canning Limbo Line xiv. 191 They..asked the girl to bring the cheese board, saying they wanted to try some local cheeses.
1746Brit. Mag. 12 A strong Iron Screw, something like an Augur or *Cheese-borer.
1855Knickerbocker XLV. 14 A *cheese-box, used as a tanning-vat. 1862N.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. 1866E. A. Pollard Southern Hist. War I. xi. 278 Here, there, and everywhere, was the black ‘cheese-box’. 1872Schele de Vere Americanisms 335 Irreverent Confederates called the hideous-looking vessels cheese-boxes. 1878E. 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.
1629Inv. in Trans. Essex Archæol. Soc. (New Ser.) III. ii. 173 In the Dayrie..i *cheese bread.
1847Craig, *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.]
1657Mass. Hist. Soc. Coll. 4th Ser. VII. 83 Your maid likewise wants vessells for to sett milke in, & some cheese clothes. 1741Compl. Fam.-Piece i. ii. 124 Then lay a Cheese-cloth in your lesser Cheese Fat. 1837Penny Cycl. VII. 14/2 The whey runs out through the..cheese-cloth woven with wide interstices. 1892V. 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. 1931H. 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. 1932Times 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. 1944Living off Land v. 109 Tanks..are best dealt with by screening all openings with a protective wire mesh or even cheese cloth.
c1640J. Smyth Lives Berkeleys (1883) I. 303 Cheese vates, *cheese clouts and other perticulars.
1656W. Dugard Gate Lat. Unl. §346. 97 Shee drieth the cheeses in a *chees-cratch, or chees-rack.
1853Hickie tr. Aristoph. (1887) I. 119 Redolent of new wine, of the *cheese-crate.
1848Sinks of London Laid Open 102/2 *Cheese cutters, bandy legs. 1873Slang Dict., Cheesecutter, a prominent and aquiline nose. Also a large square peak to a cap. Caps fitted with square peaks are called cheesecutter caps. 1886Barnes Dorset Dial., Cheesecutter, a cap with a straight peak. 1927G. Bradford Gloss. Sea Terms 33/2 Cheese-cutter, a type of centerboard. 1932Flight 25 Mar. 254/1 The notched quadrant in the front cockpit is the main ‘cheese cutter’. 1932D. Garnett Rabbit in the Air iii. 66 There is also a so-called ‘tail-incidence lever’, or cheese-cutter. 1963Times 6 May p. viii/3 (Advt.), An instrument rather like a wire cheese-cutter was designed.
1885Tasty Dishes 125 *Cheese Fingers..roll out and cut into strips about three inches long, roll round, and bake.
1846J. Baxter Libr. Pract. Agric. II. 5 No caterpillars nor grubs, except the maggot of the small *cheese fly..can jump.
1888Lockwood's Dict. Terms Mech., Engin. *Cheese Head Rivet... Cheese Head Screw. 1907Install. News Oct. 10/2 A small cheese head screw and washer [are] used to bind it. 1908Ibid. II. 110/1 The binding screws..have cheese heads which permit of a deep slot for screwing up. 1950L. 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. 1930Engineering 26 Dec. 815/2 This grid can be removed by loosening three cheese-headed screws.
1611Cotgr., Chasiere, a *cheese-hecke; the long and round racke whereon cheese is dried. 1615Markham Eng. Housew. (1660) 152 Throughly dry, and fit to go into the Cheese-heck.
1836–9Todd Cycl. Anat. II. 949/1 The maggot of the *Cheese-hopper.
1743Ellis Mod. Husb. May vii. 97 The Cloth must be tucked in with a wooden *Cheese Knife. 1833Marryat P. Simple Instead of being straight, his shins curve like a cheese-knife. 1839Mag. Domestic Econ. Feb. 240 The curd..is cut through with a double or triple bladed cheese-knife.
1694A. van Leeuwenhoek in Phil. Trans. XVIII. 199, I put some *Cheese-Maggots in a Glass Tube in my Pocket.
1813Bingley Anim. Biog. III. 352 The *cheese-mite. To the naked eye, these minute creatures appear little more than moving particles of dust. 1816Kirby & Sp. Entomol. (1843) II. 269.
1617Moryson 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. 1629Inv. Hatfield Priory in Trans. Essex Archæol. Soc. (New Ser.) III. ii. 173 In the Dayrie..4 cheesemoates i wicker cheesemoate.
1850Thackeray 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. 1865Reader 18 Nov. 573 With tonsures as large as cheese-plates.
1530Palsgr. 204/2 *Chese rake, caisier a frommages. 1789R. Fergusson Poems II. 3 (Jam.) My cheese-rack toom that ne'er was toom before.
1725Fam. 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. 1892T. F. Garrett Encycl. Pract. Cookery I. 349/1 Cheese Puffs or Ramekins. 1899Daily News 30 Sept. 7/4 Little individual dishes of devilled macaroni,..cheese ramaquins, etc.
1874Young Ladies Jrnl. XI. 475/1 Three Receipts for Making *Cheese Straws. 1892T. F. Garrett Encycl. Pract. Cookery I. 350/2 Cheese Straws,..bake for ten minutes in a quick oven.
1811L. M. Hawkins C'tess & Gertr. 52 Pocketing the *cheese-taster. 1887Daily Tel. 15 Mar. 5/2 Testing it [the earth's] interior composition as a grocer tries a Dutch cheese with a cheese-taster.
1710Steele Tatler No. 245 ⁋2 A Silver *Cheese-Toaster with Three Tongues. 1859Thackeray Virgin. x. (D.) I'll drive my cheese-toaster through his body.
1867J. 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.
1599A. M. tr. Gabelhouer's Bk. Physicke 254/2 Wash yourselfe with the *cheese-water mixed with the Camphir. 1888Elworthy 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.
1922Good 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. 1936Times 11 July 21/2 This is cheese which spreads readily, and is known as ‘Blue Cap’ Cheese Spread. 1975Daily Colonist (Victoria, Brit. Columbia) 12 July 1/2 The cosmonauts will dine on steak in plastic pouches, rye bread, cheese spread, rehydrated strawberries [etc.]. 1997T. 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.
1887B. 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. 1961Brit. 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. 2001Financial 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’.
1990St. 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. 1991Washington Times (Nexis) 3 May e5 You hate to see her submit to such blatant TV cheese. 1994Generator 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’? 1996Entertainm. 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. 1999Mixmag 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.
1818Lond. Guide (cited in Slang Dict. 1873). 1847Alb. Smith Man in Moon I. 201 Admired ‘Pets of the Ballet’..in a print-shop window. Thought them the cheese as works of art. c1850Thackeray 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.).
a1910‘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. 1920Wodehouse Coming of Bill i. iv. 44 The bunch of cheeses ought to have been highly grateful to Mrs. Dingle for her anti-pugilistic prejudices. 1934R. Chandler in Black Mask July 64 So the big cheese give me the job. 1939L. H. Gray Foundations of Lang. 31 He's the big cheese. 1961J. Masters Road past Mandalay xii. 136 ‘Where's the manager?’ ‘The manager?’ ‘The Bara Sahib. The Big Cheese. The Boss.’ ‘The Brigadier is out.’ 1965Daily 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.
1694Westmacott Script. Herb. 111 The coagulation, curdling, or cheesing of milk.
2. School slang. To smile.
1930N. & 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. 1940M. 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!
1812J. H. Vaux Flash Dict., Cheese it, the same as Stow it. 1866Even. Standard 27 July, As soon as he went up the prisoner Blagin said, ‘Cheese it (run away), here's the bobby coming’. 1873Slang Dict., Cheese or Cheese it (evidently a corruption of cease) leave off, or have done: ‘Cheese your barrikin’, hold your noise. Term very common. 1880Times, for the year 1980 4/4 He told the station master at the balloon depôt to cheese it, but thought better of it afterwards. 1882J. Hawthorne Fort. Fool i. xxxiii, ‘Cheese it, mates! 'ere comes the bobbies!’ 1910Chesterton Alarms & Discursions 58 Their citizens..will often say ‘Cheese it!’ 1923Wodehouse 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. |