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 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. Shaks., 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 mold 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, CHESHIRE, PARMESAN, STILTON, etc.
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 sb. 2 d. c. Chalk and cheese: see CHALK sb. 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. 176.
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.
1857–9. Thackeray, Virginians, 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. of 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. (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.
5. 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.
6. Comb., as cheese-basket, -chamber, -chandler, -cover, -curd, -factor, -grater, -loft, -maker, -making, -room, -scraper, -shelf, -trencher, -tub; cheese-like adj.
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. 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.
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.
1629. Inv., in Trans. Essex Archæol. Soc. (New Ser.), III. II. 173. In the Dayrie…. ii *cheese tubbes. Ibid., 174. 3 *cheese shelves wth 3 stories.
1607. Dekker, Northw. Hoe, III. i. Wks. 1873, III. 38. A dozen of *cheese trenchers.
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 sb.2] = CHEESE-HOOP; cheese-board, † -bred, the cover of a cheese-vat; cheese-borer ? = cheese-scoop; 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; cheese-cratch, -crate = cheese-rack; cheese-cutter, (a.) an instrument with a broad curved blade used for cutting cheese; (b.) slang (see quot.); cheese-fly, a small black fly (Piophila casei) bred in cheese (see cheese-hopper); cheese-hake (Sc.), † -heck = cheese-rack; 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 ? = cheese-cutter; cheese-maggot = cheese-hopper; cheese-mite, the minute arachnid (Acarus domesticus) that infests old cheese; † cheese-moat = CHEESE-VAT; cheese-mo(u)ld, (a.) a mold or form in which cheese is pressed, a chessel; (b.) the blue mold that 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-scoop, cheese-taster, an instrument with a small scoop for piercing cheese and withdrawing a small portion to be tasted; cheese-toaster, a fork for toasting cheese; hence humorously, a sword; † 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.
1629. Inv., in Trans. Essex Archæol. Soc. (New Ser.), III. II. 173. In the Dayrie…. i *cheesebread.
1746. Brit. Mag., 12. A strong Iron Screw, something like an Augur or *Cheese-borer.
1847. Craig, *Cheese Cement.… A kind of glue, particularly serviceable in joining broken china, wood that is exposed to wet, painter’s panel boards, &c. [cf. Bulleyn, Bk. Simples (1562), 85 a, Whan stone pottes be broken, what is better to glew them againe … like the Symunt made of Cheese.]
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.
c. 1640. J. Smyth, Lives Berkeleys (1883), I. 303. Cheese vates, *cheese clouts and other perticulars.
1656. Dugard, Gate Lat. Unl., § 346. 97. Shee drieth the cheeses in a *chees-cratch, or chees-rack.
1853. Hickie, trans. Aristoph. (1887), I. 119. Redolent of new wine, of the *cheese-crate.
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.
1846. J. Baxter, Libr. Pract. Agric., II. 5. No caterpillars nor grubs, except the maggot of the small *cheese fly … can jump.
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.
1833. Marryat, P. Simple, xxxi. Instead of being straight, his shins curved like a *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. 267.
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. Ibid. (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.
1811. L. M. Hawkins, C’tess & Gertr., 52. Pocketing the *cheese-taster.
1887. Daily Tel., 15 March, 5/2. Testing its [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.
1599. A. M., trans. 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.’
