cheese

Less common meanings

4. 4
   dough (money)nounslanguncountable

   Money, especially in the form of cash.

   They flashed their cheese around the club all night.

   He picked up extra shifts at the warehouse because he needed more cheese for rent.

   Similarcash, money, dough, bread

5. 5
   importancenounslanguncountable

   An important or powerful person, usually in the phrase the big cheese; in dated slang, also the very best or exactly right thing.

   Once the big cheese from headquarters arrived, everyone in the office suddenly looked very busy.

   He likes to act like the big cheese, but his sister is the one who actually runs the business.

   Note

   A slang sense with a disputed past. It is often traced to Persian چیز (čiz, "thing"), but its earliest records are not Anglo-Indian. Instead it turns up often in British and Australian writing from the 1840s on. It can describe a person's standing as much as their money. Source

   Checked 3 Nov 2026 · 3 facts

   • The slang sense has a disputed origin and is commonly traced to Persian چیز (čiz), meaning 'thing'. en.wiktionary.org
   • The earliest records are not Anglo-Indian. en.wiktionary.org
   • The slang term is well documented in British and Australian sources from the 1840s onwards. repository.nie.edu.sg
6. 6
   verbslangintransitive

   To smile broadly or excessively, as one does for a camera.

   The children cheese wildly whenever a camera points at them.

   She cheesed for the photographer, all teeth and forced delight.

   Similargrin, beam, smile

   Oppositefrown, scowl

   Note

   Slang for a grin that will not switch off. It is usually intransitive and often stretched by an idiom. Bryan Washington's Memorial (2020) has a character "cheesing from ear to ear". Michael W. Eagle II's "Degrassi Picture Day" (2013) has girls grinning so widely that the line pushes the idiom to an extreme. Doja Cat's "Say So" (2019) uses it for a man who keeps grinning without a break.

7. 7
   annoyverbslangBritishtransitive

   To anger or irritate someone, usually used together with "off".

   Her constant excuses really cheese me off.

   He was cheesed off about being left out of the meeting.

   UsageMostly cheese someone off, and cheesed off after be or get.

   Similarannoy, irritate, irk, bug, anger

8. 8
   play unfairlyverbtransitive or intransitive

   In games, to win or gain an advantage with a cheap, unsporting or surprise tactic, such as an early all-out attack or a glitch.

   Top players cheese the encounter with a trick that skips the hardest phase.

   She cheesed her way to the win using a tactic everyone called cheap.

   Note

   Internet gaming slang, and ambitransitive: you can cheese a boss, cheese the whole game, or simply cheese. On alt.games.sf2 in 1993, Alex Werner used it for anything "cheap". It has reached the pool table too. Samiel, on rec.sport.billiard in 2001, uses it for shooting at the 9-ball early in 9-ball, a way to win "but perhaps not much respect". Source

   Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 2 facts

   • Alex Werner described cheesing as anything 'cheap' on alt.games.sf2 in 1993; the original post is dated October 4, 1993. groups.google.com
   • Samiel used the term on rec.sport.billiard in 2001 for attempting to pocket the 9-ball early, and wrote the quoted words about respect; the post is dated December 31, 2001. groups.google.com
9. 9
   noununcountable

   The exploitation, or chance to exploit, an unintended video game mechanic.

   The latest patch removed most of the cheese players had relied on.

   Players quickly found a cheese that lets you beat the final boss without taking any damage.

   Similarexploit

   Note

   Gamer slang built on the adjective cheesy: a cheap trick the designers never intended. There is cheese in a level, a boss fight has cheese, and a patch removes it. The verb to cheese an encounter shares the same origin and the same judgment. Source

   Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 2 facts

   • The gaming noun derives from the adjective cheesy. en.wiktionary.org
   • The gaming verb shares that derivation and conveys a judgment that the tactic is questionable. en.wiktionary.org
10. 10
    thick jamnounUKuncountable

    A thick, sweet preserve made from fruit, either firm like quince cheese or soft and spreadable like lemon cheese.

    Like the difference between a firm paste you slice and a soft spread you pour.

    In many British kitchens, quince cheese is served alongside cold meats and crackers.

    The fruit cheese had set firmly enough to be cut into neat squares.

    UsageA fruit name usually comes first: quince cheese, damson cheese.

    Similarpaste, preserve

    Note

    A British confectioner's word that turns on texture. A fruit cheese is thick enough to hold its shape, and a thinner preserve of the same fruit is called jelly. An 1807 edition of Frederick Nutt's The Complete Confectioner already uses it. Source

    Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 1 fact

    • An 1807 edition of Frederick Nutt's The Complete Confectioner uses cheese for a fruit preserve; the item does not claim that 1807 was its first publication. books.google.com
11. 11
    fastballnounslanguncountable

    A fastball, particularly a hard one thrown with high velocity.

    He challenged the slugger with pure cheese on a full count.

    The catcher called for more cheese with two strikes.

    Similarheat, gas, smoke

12. 12
    stopverbdatedtransitive

    To stop, or to refrain from doing something.

    Cheese it! Someone's coming up the stairs!

    My great-uncle still says "cheese it" when he wants us to stop fooling around at the dinner table.

    UsageMostly in the command cheese it!, a warning to stop or get away.

    Similarstop, quit

    Note

    Slang that lives mostly in the command cheese it, a warning to drop what you are doing: "Cheese it! The cops!" It can also take a direct object naming what should stop, as in cheese your patter, "stop talking". Its origin is unknown. One suggestion is an alteration of cease, which would fit the meaning neatly. Source

    Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 2 facts

    • The origin of cheese meaning ‘stop’ is unknown. en.wiktionary.org
    • An alteration of cease has been suggested as its origin. gutenberg.org
13. 13
    body secretionnounslangvulgarcountable or uncountable

    A vulgar slang term for smegma, the whitish secretion that collects under the foreskin or around the genitals.

    After skipping a few showers at camp, he found cheese building up under his foreskin.

    He warned his son that cheese gathers under the foreskin without daily washing.

    Similarsmegma

14. 14
    prepare curdsverbtransitive

    To work and prepare milk curds in the early stage of making cheese.
15. 15
    nounslang

    A dangerous powdered drug made by combining black tar heroin with crushed Tylenol PM tablets and snorting the result, which resembles grated cheese.
16. 16
    nounUK

    In the game of skittles, the heavy wooden piece that players throw to knock down the pins.
17. 17
    noun

    A pressed mass of pomace (ground apples) built up and squeezed into the shape of a round cheese.
18. 18
    noun

    A holed pattern introduced into a region of circuitry to decrease its pattern density.
19. 19
    verb

    To cut holes into a pattern of circuitry in order to decrease its density.
20. 20
    noun

    The flat, circular, slightly slimy fruit of the dwarf mallow or marshmallow plant.
21. 21
    noun

    A low curtsey, named for the round, cheese-like shape a girl's skirts take as she sinks down after spinning them outward.

    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.

    1897, Stanley John Weyman, “The Deanery Ball”