cheek

[cheek] /tʃik/
noun
1.
either side of the face below the eye and above the jaw.
2.
the side wall of the mouth between the upper and lower jaws.
3.
something resembling the side of the human face in form or position, as either of two parts forming corresponding sides of various objects:
the cheeks of a vise.
4.
impudence or effrontery:
He's got a lot of cheek to say that to me!
5.
Slang. either of the buttocks.
6.
Architecture.
  1. one side of an opening, as a reveal.
  2. either of two similar faces of a projection, as a buttress or dormer.
7.
Carpentry.
  1. a piece of wood removed from the end of a timber in making a tenon.
  2. a piece of wood on either side of a mortise.
8.
one side of a hammer head.
9.
Horology. one of two pieces placed on both sides of the suspension spring of a pendulum to control the amplitude of oscillation or to give the arc of the pendulum a cycloidal form.
10.
one of the two main vertical supports forming the frame of a hand printing press.
11.
Machinery. either of the sides of a pulley or block.
12.
Nautical. either of a pair of fore-and-aft members at the lower end of the head of a lower mast, used to support trestletrees which in turn support a top and often the heel of a topmast; one of the hounds of a lower mast.
13.
Metallurgy. any part of a flask between the cope and the drag.
Idioms
14.
cheek by jowl, in close intimacy; side by side:
a row of houses cheek by jowl.
15.
(with) tongue in cheek. tongue (def 37).
Origin
before 900; Middle English cheke, Old English cē(a)ce; akin to Dutch kaak, Middle Low German kake
Related forms
cheekless, adjective
Synonyms
4. nerve, audacity, brass, gall.
Examples from the web for cheek
  • He then did the same thing on her other cheek and likewise ran four threads on either side of her neck.
  • And when the slap connected with his wet cheek, the loud clap stung my face in a phantom sort of way.
  • She had turned her face away, the rough cheek blotched as if it had borne a slap, the gaze hooded and set low.
  • It even had the cheek to propose increasing its dividend.
  • The doctors placed her into a brain scanner, and asked her to scratch her cheek with her phantom limb.
  • From behind her, a beefy brute with a scar on his cheek clamps a meaty hand over her mouth.
  • Sherrill, the former in the hand and the latter in the cheek and chin.
  • Forgive the sinner, and turn the other cheek for a while.
  • Rwandans simply live cheek by jowl in a football pitch.
  • Well, the words were certainly chosen with a tongue firmly planted in one cheek.
British Dictionary definitions for cheek

cheek

/tʃiːk/
noun
1.
  1. either side of the face, esp that part below the eye
  2. either side of the oral cavity; side of the mouth related adjectives buccal genal malar
2.
(informal) impudence; effrontery
3.
(often pl) (informal) either side of the buttocks
4.
(often pl) a side of a door jamb
5.
(nautical) one of the two fore-and-aft supports for the trestletrees on a mast of a sailing vessel, forming part of the hounds
6.
one of the jaws of a vice
7.
cheek by jowl, close together; intimately linked
8.
turn the other cheek, to be submissive and refuse to retaliate even when provoked or treated badly
9.
with one's tongue in one's cheek, See tongue (sense 19)
verb
10.
(transitive) (informal) to speak or behave disrespectfully to; act impudently towards
Derived Forms
cheekless, adjective
Word Origin
Old English ceace; related to Middle Low German kāke, Dutch kaak
Word Origin and History for cheek
n.

Old English ceace, cece "jaw, jawbone," in late Old English also "the fleshy wall of the mouth." Perhaps from the root of Old English ceowan "chew" (see chew (v.)), or from Proto-Germanic *kaukon (cf. Middle Low German kake "jaw, jawbone," Middle Dutch kake "jaw," Dutch kaak), not found outside West Germanic.

Words for "cheek," "jaw," and "chin" tend to run together in IE languages (e.g. PIE *genw-, source of Greek genus "jaw, cheek," geneion "chin," and English chin); Aristotle considered the chin as the front of the "jaws" and the cheeks as the back of them. The other Old English word for "cheek" was ceafl (see jowl).

A thousand men he [Samson] slow eek with his hond,
And had no wepen but an asses cheek.
[Chaucer, "Monk's Tale"]
In reference to the buttocks from c.1600. Sense of "insolence" is from 1840, perhaps from a notion akin to that which led to jaw "insolent speech," mouth off, etc. To turn the other cheek is an allusion to Matt. v:39 and Luke vi:29.

cheek in Medicine

cheek (chēk)
n.

  1. The fleshy part of either side of the face below the eye and between the nose and ear.

  2. Either of the buttocks.

Slang definitions & phrases for cheek

cheek

noun
  1. Impudence; audacity; brass, chutzpa: She had the infernal cheek to stick out her tongue at me (1840+)
  2. A buttock; bun: I took the injection in the left cheek (1600+)

[first sense apparently related to jaw, suggesting insolent speech]


cheek in the Bible

Smiting on the cheek was accounted a grievous injury and insult (Job 16:10; Lam. 3:30; Micah 5:1). The admonition (Luke 6:29), "Unto him that smiteth thee on the one cheek offer also the other," means simply, "Resist not evil" (Matt. 5:39; 1 Pet. 2:19-23). Ps. 3:7 = that God had deprived his enemies of the power of doing him injury.

Idioms and Phrases with cheek

cheek

In addition to the idiom beginning with
cheek
also see: