# cheese
## English
### Pronunciation

* enPR: chēz, IPA: /t͡ʃiːz/
* (General American) IPA: /t͡ʃiz/
* Audio (US):(file)
* Rhymes: -iːz
* Homophone: qis

### Etymology 1

From Middle English chese, from Old English ċīese, specifically the Anglian form ċēse, from Proto-West Germanic *kāsī, borrowed from Latin cāseus. Doublet of queso.
Cognate with Saterland Frisian Síes (“cheese”), West Frisian tsiis (“cheese”), Dutch kaas (“cheese”), German Low German Kees (“cheese”), German Käse (“cheese”).

#### Noun

cheese (countable and uncountable, plural cheeses or (archaic) cheesen)
* (uncountable) A dairy product made from curdled or cultured milk.
* (countable) Any particular variety of cheese.
* (countable) A piece of cheese, especially one moulded into a large round shape during manufacture.
** 2015 August, Dominik Guggisberg et al., “Mechanism and control of the eye formation in cheese”, in International Dairy Journal‎, volume 47, Elsevier, →DOI, pages 118–127:In the tomographic images of the 30-day-old cheeses, the gantry had to be removed with image processing techniques: first, the binarised image (grey level larger than 10$^4$) was eroded with a disk of three pixels.
* (uncountable, UK) A thick variety of jam (fruit preserve), as distinguished from a thinner variety (sometimes called jelly)
** 1807, Nutt, F. (1807). The Complete Confectioner: Or, The Whole Art of Confectionary Made Easy: Containing, Among a Variety of Useful Matter, the Art of Making the Various Kinds of Biscuits, Drops ... as Also the Most Approved Method of Making Cheeses, Puddings, Cakes &c. in 250 Cheap and Fashionable Receipts. The Result of Many Years Experience with the Celebrated Negri and Witten. United Kingdom: reprinted, for Richard Scott and sold at his bookstore, no. 243 Pearl-street.
    p.82-3, No.244. Damson Cheese: “Pick the damsons free from stalks···You may make plum or bullace cheese in the same way···”
* A substance resembling cream cheese, such as lemon cheese
* (uncountable, colloquial) That which is melodramatic, overly emotional, or cliché, i.e. cheesy.
** 2012, Katrina Hill, Action Movie Freak, page 117:It's time to add some cheese to this action burger! Every genre has them, everybody loves them ... it's the parodies!
** 2012 June 18, Ryan Lambie, “10 delightfully cheesy 90s sci-fi movie trailers”, in Den of Geek!‎, archived from the original on 7 July 2017:A film ostensibly about the lead singer of a hair metal band killing innocent people on a future planet Earth, Alienator is the epitome of low-budget cheese.
* (uncountable, slang) Money.
* (countable, UK) In skittles, the roughly ovoid object that is thrown to knock down the skittles.
* (uncountable, slang, baseball) A fastball.
* (uncountable, slang) A dangerous mixture of black tar heroin and crushed Tylenol PM tablets. The resulting powder resembles grated cheese and is snorted.
* (vulgar, slang) Smegma.
* (technology) Holed pattern of circuitry to decrease pattern density.
** 2006, US Patent 7458053, International Business Machines Corporation
    It is known in the art to insert features that are electrically inactive (“fill structures”) into a layout to increase layout pattern density or and to remove features from the layout (“cheese structures”) to decrease layout pattern density.
* A mass of pomace, or ground apples, pressed together in the shape of a cheese.
** 2011, P. Rutledge, “Production of Non-Fermented Fruit Products”, in D. Arthey, P.R. Ashurst, editors, Fruit Processing, →ISBN, page 77:Apple pulp is poured into the cloth until the frame is full. The edges of the cloth are folded over the pulp forming a cloth-bound bed of apple pulp, called a 'cheese' as it resembles the European-style bound cheese. The frame is removed, a divider is placed on the 'cheese' and another 'cheese' is built on top of the first, and so on.
* The flat, circular, mucilaginous fruit of dwarf mallow (Malva rotundifolia) or marshmallow (Althaea officinalis).
* A low curtsey; so called on account of the cheese shape assumed by a woman's dress when she stoops after extending the skirts by a rapid gyration.
** 1853, Thomas De Quincey, “I Enter the World”, in Autobiographic Sketches:The time was morning; the young lady was not fifteen; her spirits were as the spirits of a fawn in May; her tour of duty for the day was either not come, or was gone; and, finding herself alone in a spacious room, what more reasonable thing could she do than amuse herself with making cheeses? that is, whirling round, according to a fashion practised by young ladies both in France and England, and pirouetting until the petticoat is inflated like a balloon, and then sinking into a courtesy.
** 1857, William Makepeace Thackeray, chapter 34, in The Virginians:"I thank your ladyship, I don't like tanzing, and I don't like cards," says Miss Hester, tossing up her head; and, dropping a curtsey like a "cheese," she strutted away from the Countess's table.
** 1897, Stanley John Weyman, “The Deanery Ball”, in For the Cause:Mrs. Curzon-Bowlby, thus deserted in the middle of the room, dropped the prettiest of "cheeses," and broke into a merry peal of unaffected laughter.

##### Synonyms

* (product): See Thesaurus:cheese
* (money): See Thesaurus:money

##### Antonyms

* (antonym(s) of “circuitry”): fill (“dummy pattern to increase pattern density”)

##### Hyponyms

* (dairy product): See Thesaurus:cheese

##### Derived terms

* Abertam cheese
* aerosol cheese
* a little bit of bread and no cheese
* American cheese
* Añejo cheese
* apple cheese
* apple-cheese
* Asiago cheese
* basket cheese
* beer cheese
* bleu cheese
* blue cheese
* Bonchester cheese
* bread-and-cheese
* bread and cheese
* brick cheese
* brined cheese
* brown cheese
* Brussels' cheese
* Buxton Blue cheese
* Cabrales cheese
* Caerphilly cheese
* Caithness cheese
* Camembert cheese
* canned cheese
* cauliflower cheese
* chaffle
* chalk and cheese
* chalk for cheese
* Chanco cheese
* Chaumes cheese
* Cheddar cheese
* cheesable
* cheese and bread
* cheese and rice
* cheese antenna
* cheese-bail
* cheeseball
* cheese ball
* cheese board
* cheeseboard
* cheese-board
* cheese-borer
* cheese-bowl
* cheese-box
* cheesebox
* cheese box
* cheese-bug
* cheeseburger
* cheese bus
* cheese button
* cheesecake
* cheese-cement
* cheesecloth
* cheese cloth
* cheese-clout
* cheese coney
* cheese-cratch
* cheese-crate
* cheese crisp
* cheese crystal
* cheese curds
* cheese curl
* cheese-cutter
* cheese cutter
* cheesecutter
* cheesed
* cheesedick
* cheese dip
* cheese dish
* cheesed off
* cheese dog
* cheese doodle
* cheese down
* cheese dream
* cheese-eater
* cheese eater
* cheese eating
* cheese-eating
* cheese-eating surrender monkey
* cheese-eating surrender monkeys
* Cheesefare
* cheesefest
* cheese fingers
* cheese fly
* cheese food
* cheese fries
* cheese grater
* cheese-hake
* cheesehamburger
* cheesehead
* cheese-head
* cheese-headed
* cheese-heck
* cheese-hoop
* cheese-hopper
* cheesehopper
* cheese in a can
* cheese kettle
* cheese knife
* cheese-knife
* cheese ladder
* cheeselep
* cheeseless
* cheeselicious
* cheeselike
* cheeseling
* cheese-maggot
* cheesemaker
* cheesemaking
* cheeseman
* cheesemeister
* cheese mite
* cheese-moat
* cheese-mold
* cheesemonger
* cheese monkey
* cheese-mould
* cheesen
* cheese off
* cheese on toast
* cheese out
* cheese-pale
* cheese paper
* cheesepare
* cheese-parer
* cheeseparing
* cheese-paring
* cheese pizza
* cheese-plate
* cheese powder
* cheese-press
* cheese puff
* cheese pull
* cheeser
* cheese-rack
* cheese rack
* cheese-ramekin
* cheese rennet
* cheese-rennet
* cheese roll
* cheese rolling
* cheese-room
* cheese-running
* cheesery
* cheese sauce
* cheese-scoop
* cheese scoop
* cheese single
* cheese skipper
* cheese slaw
* cheese slicer
* cheese spread
* cheesesteak
* cheese stick
* cheese straw
* cheese syndrome
* cheese-taster
* cheesetastic
* cheese tax
* cheese tea
* cheese-toaster
* cheese toastie
* cheese trier
* cheese-tub
* cheesevat
* cheese-vat
* cheeseware
* cheese-water
* cheeseweed
* Cheese Week
* cheese wiener
* cheese wire
* cheesewire
* cheese with that whine
* cheese with your wine
* cheesewoman
* cheesewood
* cheesewright
* cheese-wring
* cheesine
* cheesing
* cheesology
* cheesy
* cheesymite scroll
* cheeze
* Cheshire cheese
* chessel
* Cheswick
* Chevington cheese
* chèvre cheese
* Chihuahua cheese
* chili cheese
* chips and cheese
* Chiswick
* cock-cheese
* cock cheese
* Colby cheese
* Colby-Jack cheese
* Coon cheese
* corn cheese
* Cornish Yarg cheese
* cotija cheese
* cottage cheese
* cottage cheese ass
* Cougar Gold cheese
* cream cheese
* cream-cheese
* Creole cream cheese
* Criollo cheese
* Cuba cheese
* cup cheese
* curd cheese
* cut the cheese
* damson cheese
* damson-cheese
* Danish Blue cheese
* Derby cheese
* dick-cheese
* dick cheese
* dickcheese
* Dorset Blue Vinney cheese
* Dorstone cheese
* Double Gloucester cheese
* Dovedale cheese
* Duberry cheese
* Dunlop cheese
* Dutch cheese
* Easy Cheese
* Edam cheese
* Emmental cheese
* Emmenthal cheese
* Eurocheese
* Exmoor Blue cheese
* farmer cheese
* farmer's cheese
* Feta cheese
* feta cheese
* Fetta cheese
* fetta cheese
* filled cheese
* fresh cheese
* frog cheese
* fromunda cheese
* Gloucester cheese
* goat cheese
* goat's cheese
* goat's-milk cheese
* goat's milk cheese
* Gouda cheese
* government cheese
* granular cheese
* grated cheese
* green cheese
* grilled cheese
* groaning cheese
* Gruyère cheese
* hard cheese
* headcheese
* head cheese
* head-cheese
* hoop cheese
* Horeb cheese
* human cheese
* Huntsman cheese
* Idiazabal cheese
* Ilchester cheese
* Jack cheese
* jack cheese
* jalapeño cheese
* Jarlsberg cheese
* Keswick
* knob cheese
* Lancashire cheese
* Leicester cheese
* Leidse cheese
* lemon cheese
* Leyden cheese
* Liederkranz cheese
* like cheese at fourpence
* Limburg cheese
* Limburger cheese
* Lincolnshire Poacher cheese
* Lymeswold cheese
* mac and cheese
* macaroni-and-cheese
* macaroni and cheese
* macaroni cheese
* mac'n cheese
* mac 'n' cheese
* maggot cheese
* make butter and cheese of
* make cheeses
* make the cheese more binding
* Manchego cheese
* marble cheese
* Maytag Blue cheese
* mite cheese
* monastery cheese
* mountain cheese
* mousetrap cheese
* mozzarella cheese
* Muenster cheese
* Munster cheese
* Münster cheese
* Nabulsi cheese
* Neufchâtel cheese
* nipcheese
* Nökkelost cheese
* noncheese
* Oaxaca cheese
* Oka cheese
* Olomouc cheese
* Parmesan cheese
* pepper jack cheese
* pick-cheese
* pickcheese
* pimento cheese
* Pinconning cheese
* pizza cheese
* plastic cheese
* pork cheese
* pot cheese
* processed cheese
* Provel cheese
* pub cheese
* quince cheese
* rat cheese
* rat-trap cheese
* Red Leicester cheese
* Red Windsor cheese
* rennet cheese
* ricotta cheese
* romano cheese
* ruen cheese
* sage-cheese
* Sage Derby cheese
* Saint-André cheese
* Sakura cheese
* Šar cheese
* say cheese
* Shropshire Blue cheese
* Single Gloucester cheese
* slip cheese
* smoked cheese
* soft cheese
* sour milk cheese
* soycheese
* spray cheese
* squeaky cheese
* Stilton cheese
* Stinking Bishop cheese
* stirred-curd cheese
* stirred curd cheese
* store cheese
* string cheese
* suck cheese
* Swaledale cheese
* Swiss cheese
* Swiss cheese plant
* tasty cheese
* Testouri cheese
* Teviotdale cheese
* the Cheeses
* Tilsit cheese
* Tilsiter cheese
* tip-cheese
* toad-cheese
* toad's cheese
* toasted cheese
* toe cheese
* Trappist cheese
* Tyrolean grey cheese
* unripened cheese
* Valdeón cheese
* Västerbotten cheese
* Waterloo cheese
* Wensleydale cheese
* white cheese polypore
* White Stilton cheese
* Yankee cheese
* Yankee cheese-box
* yoghurt cheese
* Yunnan cheese
* Zamorano cheese

##### Descendants

* Tok Pisin: sis

###### Borrowings

* → Abenaki: chiz
* → Cantonese: 芝士 (zi$^1$ si$^{6-2}$)
* → Chichewa: tchizi
* → Coeur d'Alene: chis
* → Dhivehi: ޗީޒު (cīzu)
* → Fijian: jisi
* → Gilbertese: titi
* → Hakka: 起士 (chhí-sṳ̀)
* → Hindi: चीज़ (cīz)
* → Igbo: chiz
* → Japanese: チーズ (chīzu)
* → Korean: 치즈 (chijeu)
* → Malayalam: ചീസ് (cīsŭ)
* → Mandarin: 起士 (qǐshì), 起司, 芝士 (zhīshì), 吉士 (jíshì)
* → Maori: tīhi
* → Marathi: चीझ (cījh)
* → Marshallese: jiij
* → Mohegan-Pequot: cihs; cheehs (obsolete)
* → Nepali: चिज (cij), चीज (cīj)
* → Punjabi: ਚੀਜ਼ (cīz)
* → Samoan: sisi
** → Tokelauan: hihi
* → Sinhalese: චීස් (cīs)
* → Swahili: chizi
* → Thai: ชีส (chíis)
* → Tongan: siisi
* → Tswana: tshise
* → Western Ojibwa: ᒌᐦᐢ (cîhs, jiis) (Saulteaux dialects)
* → Wu: 起司
* → Xhosa: itshizi
* → Zulu: ushizi

##### See also

* cheese on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
* Cheese (recreational drug) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
* butter
* cream
* milk
* turophile
* yogurt

#### Verb

cheese (third-person singular simple present cheeses, present participle cheesing, simple past and past participle cheesed)
* To prepare curds for making cheese.
* (technology) To make holes in a pattern of circuitry to decrease pattern density.
* (slang) To smile excessively, as for a camera.
** 2013, Michael W. Eagle II (lyrics and music), “Degrassi Picture Day” (track 1), in Sir Rockabye, performed by Open Mike Eagle and Busdriver:Yeah, a couple homegirls cheese they little faces off / They happy cause they finally got they braces off
** 2020, Bryan Washington, Memorial, Atlantic Books (2021), page 189:Now Kunihiko sprinted back up the stairs. Exploded through the bar with three sacks of convenience store chicken, cheesing from ear to ear.

##### Derived terms

* cheese up

### Etymology 2

Perhaps an alteration of cheers.

#### Interjection

cheese!
* (photography) Said while being photographed, to give the impression of smiling.
    Say "cheese"! ... and there we are!

##### Derived terms

* say cheese

##### Descendants

* → Icelandic: sís
* → Japanese: チーズ (chīzu)
* → Korean: 치즈 (chijeu)

##### Translations
### Etymology 3

Though commonly claimed to be a borrowing of Persian چیز (čiz, “thing”), the term does not occur earliest in Anglo-Indian sources, but instead is "well recorded in British and Australian sources from the 1840s onwards".

#### Noun

cheese (uncountable)
* (slang) Wealth, fame, excellence, importance.
* (slang, dated, British India) The correct thing, of excellent quality; the ticket.
    These cheroots are the real cheese.

##### Derived terms

* big cheese
* sub-cheese

#### References

* ↑ James Lambert, 2018, 'Anglo-Indian slang in dictionaries on historical principles' World Englishes Vol. 37, page 255.

### Etymology 4

Etymology unknown. Possibly an alteration of cease.

#### Verb

cheese (third-person singular simple present cheeses, present participle cheesing, simple past and past participle cheesed)
* (slang) To stop; to refrain from.
    Cheese it! The cops!
    Cheese your patter! (= stop talking, shut up)
* (slang) To anger or irritate someone, usually in combination with "off".
    All this waiting around is really cheesing me off.

##### Derived terms

* cheese it
* cheesed off

### Etymology 5

From cheesy.

#### Verb

cheese (third-person singular simple present cheeses, present participle cheesing, simple past and past participle cheesed)
* (Internet slang, gaming, ambitransitive) To use a controversial or unsporting tactic to gain an advantage (especially in a game.)
    You can cheese most of the game using certain exploits.
** 1993, Alex Werner, alt.games.sf2‎ (Usenet):The term cheesing is also pretty common. However, at least originally, ticking had a more specific meaning, ie hitting someone and then throwing after they block, whereas cheesing would be anything "cheap", and thereore depended on the user [...]
** 2000, cyber...@my-deja.com, rec.games.miniatures.warhammer‎ (Usenet):The moral of the story is, real strategy doesn't apply in WH40K. Find out where your opponent cheesed himself up and hit him there with everything you've got.
** 2001, Samiel, rec.sport.billiard‎ (Usenet):"Cheesing" means to shoot for the 9-ball (in 9-ball) before being on the 9-ball (i.e. shooting at the 1-ball to hit the 9-ball in). Basically if you can do it, you'll win the game (but perhaps not much respect).
** 2008, Reed Stevens, Tom Satwicz, Laurie McCarthy, “In-Game, In-Room, In-World: Reconnecting Video Game Play to the Rest of Kids’ Lives”, in Katie Salen, editor, The Ecology of Games: Connecting Youth, Games, and Learning (The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation Series on Digital Media and Learning), Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press, →DOI, page 54:For example, he was accused of "cheating" when he modified his in-game play techniques—without the use of cheat codes—but in ways that were unexpected to his opponents. Taking these actions (called cheesing by some in game play discourse) was unexpected, because the actions diverged from courses of action perceived as normal in the real-world activity the game simulated.
* (video games, slang) To use an unconventional, all-in strategy to take one's opponent by surprise early in the game (especially for real-time strategy games).

##### Synonyms

* (use a surprise all-in strategy early in a game): rush, zerg

## Middle English
### Etymology 1
#### Noun

cheese
* Alternative form of chese

### Etymology 2
#### Verb

cheese
* Alternative form of chesen