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cheese 1 (chēz)
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n.
1.
a. A solid food prepared from the pressed curd of milk, often seasoned and aged.
b. A molded mass of this substance.
2. Something resembling this substance in shape or consistency.

[Middle English chese, from Old English cȳse, from Germanic *kasjus, from Latin cāseus.]

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition copyright ©2022 by HarperCollins Publishers. All rights reserved.
 
cheese 2 (chēz)
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tr.v. cheesed, chees·ing, chees·es
Slang
To stop.
Phrasal Verb:
cheese off Chiefly British Slang
To anger or irritate: The footballers were cheesed off by the referee's decision that cost them the game.
Idiom:
cheese it Slang
1. To look out. Often used in the imperative.
2. To get away fast; get going. Often used in the imperative.

[Origin unknown.]

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition copyright ©2022 by HarperCollins Publishers. All rights reserved.
 
cheese 3 (chēz)
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n.
Slang
An important person.

[Perhaps from Urdu chīz, thing, from Persian, from Old Persian *ciš-ciy, something; see kwo- in the Appendix of Indo-European roots.]

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition copyright ©2022 by HarperCollins Publishers. All rights reserved.
 

Indo-European & Semitic Roots Appendices

    Thousands of entries in the dictionary include etymologies that trace their origins back to reconstructed proto-languages. You can obtain more information about these forms in our online appendices:

    Indo-European Roots

    Semitic Roots

    The Indo-European appendix covers nearly half of the Indo-European roots that have left their mark on English words. A more complete treatment of Indo-European roots and the English words derived from them is available in our Dictionary of Indo-European Roots.