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1889. Pall Mall Gaz., 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.
Cheese. The cheese, phr. (common).—1.
Anything first-rate or
highly becoming; the expression
runs up and down the whole
gamut of 'cheese nomenclature'
from the Stilton, Double Gloster,
to the pure Limburger.
[It has been variously traced to
the Anglo-Saxon ceosan, to
choose; German, kiesen; French,
chose; Persian, chiz; Hindu,
cheez, thing. Summing up the
evidence, the expression—(barring
a solitary reference in the London
Guide of 1818, where it is referred
to a bald translation of c'est une
autre chose; i.e., that is another
cheese, subsequently coming
to signify that is the real thing)—appears
to have come into general
vogue about 1840. This contention
is borne out in some measure
by a correspondent to Notes and
Queries (1853, 1 S., viii.,
p. 89), who speaks of it as
about 'ten or twelve years old,'
a calculation which carries it back
to the date when it appears to
have started in literature. Yule,
writing much later, says the expression
was common among young
Anglo-Indians, e.g., 'my new
Arab is the real chiz,' i.e., 'the
real thing,' a fact which points to
a Persian origin.] For synonyms,
see Ai.
1835. Haliburton ('Sam Slick'), The Clockmaker, 3 S., ch. xiv. Whatever is the go in Europe will soon be the cheese here.
1837. R. H. Barham, Ingoldsby Legends, p. 418. Cries Rigmaree, rubbing her hands, 'that will please—My "Conjuring cap"—it's the thing;—it's the cheese.'
1842. Punch, vol. III., p. 33. 'I hopes my love will excuse me if I'm not quite—quite—'Comme il faut, George.' 'I don't mean that, love—not quite the cheese.'
1860. Punch, vol. XXXIX., p. 97, Were the custom [of putting mottoes on garments, temp. Rich. II.] now revived we can conceive what stupid mottoes would be sported by the Œntish who always mock and maul the fashion of their betters:—'I wish my gal to please: O, aint I just the cheese' would doubtless be a popular device for a new shirt front.
1863. Chas. Reade, Hard Cash, II., 186. 'Who ever heard [said Mrs. Dodd] of a young lady being married without something to be married in?' 'Well [said Edward], I've heard Nudity is not the cheese on public occasions.
2. subs. (schools and University).—An adept; one who 'takes the shine out of another' at anything; at Cambridge an overdressed dandy is called a howling cheese. [An extended usage based on sense 1.]
1864. Eton School-days. 'Do you know Homer, Purefoy?' asked Chudleigh. 'No, I have not looked at the lesson yet.' 'I am sure I don't know why you ever do; you are such a cheese. I want you to give me a construe.'
Hard cheese, phr. (common).—What is barely endurable; hard lines; bad luck.
Tip-cheese.—Probably the same as Tip-cat (q.v.).
1836. C. Dickens, Pickwick Papers, p. 282 (ed. 1857). All is gloom and silence in the house; even the voice of the child is hushed; his infant sports are disregarded when his mother weeps; his 'alley tors' and his 'commoneys' are alike neglected; he forgets the long familiar cry of 'knuckle down,' and at tip-cheese, or odd and even, his hand is out.
Cheese it! phr. (thieves').—Leave off! Have done! Be off! [Thought to be a corruption of 'cease it!']. For synonyms, see Stow it!
1811. Lexicon Balatronicum, Cheese it, the coves are fly; be silent, the people understand our discourse.
