adj. (colloquial).—Coolly presumptuous; impudent or saucy. Fr., insolpé.
1859. H. KINGSLEY, Recollections of Geoffry Hamlyn, ch. xxvi. ‘You will find, Sir,’ said Lee, ‘that these men in this here hut are a rougher lot than you think for; very like they’ll be CHEEKY.’
1860. Punch, vol. XXXIX., p. 30. ‘The Volunteer on July fourteenth.’ But that Ass SNIVENS—a coming it as CHEEKY as could be.
1889. Pall Mall Gazette, 8 Nov., p. 2, col. 3. The CHEEKY boy, with the natural ingratitude of youth, often makes a long nose at his master, even when showing off all that the master has taught him.
