subs. (colloquial).—Impudence; effrontery; cool audacity.
1847. Illustrated London News, 28 Aug., p. 142, col. 1. They were beat … by their slow, loggy stroke, and by their CHEEKINESS. [M.]
1854. MARTIN and AYTOUN, Bon Gualtier Ballads, ‘Francesca Da Rimini.’
| There’s wont to be, at conscious times like these, | |
| An affectation of a bright-eyed ease,— | |
| A crispy-CHEEKINESS, if so I dare, | |
| Describe the swaling of a jaunty air. |
1857. A. TROLLOPE, The Three Clerks, ch. xliv. He lived but on the CHEEKINESS of his gait and habits; he had become member of Parliament, Government official, railway director, and club aristocrat, merely by dint of cheek.
