Green’s Dictionary of Slang

(US campus) someone or something unattractive, unappealing, undesirable or not attuned to group standards.

1991		Reeves & Mortimer Vic Reeves Big Night Out n.p.: Your wife’s playin’ midnight skittles with a cheeseball.
1999		Guardian Rev. 2 July 16: I’m a cheeseball sometimes.

usu. of a boxer, a particularly useless or second-rate person.

1917		N.Z. Truth 10 Feb. 11: American scribes mostly think so little of Darcy's prospective antagonist as a boxer that they usually refer to him as ‘the cheese champion.’ ‘Cheese,’ In Yankee slang, means poor of cheap.
1923		H.C. Witwer Fighting Blood 313: ‘Cheese champion,’ ‘false alarm,’ and ‘yellow’ is just a few of the labels they tacked after my name.
1936		‘Banjo’ Paterson Shearer’s Colt 183: ‘He’s a cheese champion dis Australian hoss,’ he said. ‘Why worry about heem? Even if we gave heem de fast stuff he wouldn’t beat de clerk o’ de course.’.
1967		J. Olsen Black is Best 114: ‘Clay and Bundini were shouting at each other, “Float like a butterfly! Sting like a bee! Ready to rumble! Let’s take on the bum! He ain’t no champ, he’s a cheese champ!”’.
2002		J. Ellroy ‘Where I Get My Weird Shit’ in Destination: Morgue! (2004) 31: I [...] picked up dirt [...] Floyd Patterson – cheese champ.

(US) an obnoxious person.

1986		Dye & Stone Platoon [movie script] All right, you cheesedicks, welcome to the Nam. Follow me.
1996		S. O’Nan Names of Dead 125: You know you still a cheesedick dumbfuck know-nothing cherry.
2013		J. Stahl Happy Mutant Baby Pills 193: The cheesedick bastard who banged my head off the marble floor of a Four Seasons bathroom.

(US campus) a stupid, unpleasant person.

1989		P. Munro Sl. U. 56: If that cheese dong makes another stupid comment I will hit him.
1991		Glamour 89 76: cheese dong: incredibly stupid person.

see separate entry.

(S.Afr.) a bald person.

1998		Pace n.d. 19/1: My bald head is nothing new. My partents insisted that we all shaved our heads — I’m glad they did because now the cheesekop style is the in thing.
1999		Drum n.d. 12/1: When we formed Abashante we decided to do something extreme, so we went for the ‘cheesekop’ look.
2005		IOL News (Western Cape) 12 Aug. 🌐 I used to be known as cheesekop because of my bald head.

1. (US campus) a socially inept person.

1987		Eble Campus Sl. Fall.
1996		Eble Sl. and Sociability 31: As in the general vocabulary of English, slang permits the compounding of words of various grammatical classes, with the exact relationship between the parts unspecified. noun + noun is the dominant pattern: [...] cheeseman ‘socially inept person’ (man [subject] is cheezy [adjective]).

2. a womanizer [cheese n.² (2)].

1979

Eble Campus Sl. Mar. 2: cheese man – male always preoccupied with attracting women.

the part of the penis between the glans and the shaft.

1997

Roger’s Profanisaurus in Viz 87 Dec. n.p.: cheese ridge n. The fertile area of the penis where knob cheese (qv) is cultivated. Also banjo (qv).

the urethra.

2000–02

Amatory Ink 🌐.

see cheez whiz n.

a penis that has not been cleansed of smegma.

2003

‘Rod of Might’ on ‘Absolute Beastiality Stories’ at nude-sex-fantasy.com 🌐 I looked at his cock, fantastically hard, the head drooling precum like piss. His foreskin was drawn back, the cheesy head stood revealed, a helmeted warrior.

see separate entry.

see big cheese n.

(US) unsatisfactory, in a bad way.

1905		H. Green Actors’ Boarding House (1906) 79: Mista Johnson, don’t let ’em put this here place on the cheese. For Gawd’s sake, save us!
1908		H. Green Maison De Shine 296: An’ then the best I draw is to be bit up and put on the cheeserine until I prob’ly won’t be able to work fur a year!
1908		K. McGaffey Sorrows of a Show Girl Ch. xi: The other two acts may be on the cheese, but the first act is good.
1942		in Botkin Sidewalks of America (1954) 553: [song title] I Put Him on the Cheese.

(US) to make money.

2014

Eble UNC-CH Campus Sl. Spring 2014.

(prizefighting) the stomach.

1842

Whip & Satirist of NY & Brooklyn (NY) 3 Sept. n.p.: Bell got home a heavy blow on Sullivan’s ‘cheese bag’ .

1. (US) a run-down, dilapidated vehicle.

1936		M. Levin Old Bunch (1946) 566: Why don’t you trade in that cheesebox. I trade in my chevvy every year.
1959		A. Ginsberg ‘Kaddish’ II (1961) 13: And was the driver of the cheesebox Public Service bus a member of the gang?
2004		Simon & Pelecanos ‘Amsterdam’ Wire ser. 3 ep. 4 [TV script] What the fuck’s up with that cheesebox? [i.e. a school bus].

2. a mass-produced suburban house; also attrib.

1962

Mad mag. Jan. 23: A tree that takes up so much space / Where cheesebox homes could stand in place.

3. (US campus) a computer; thus cheese, software.

1989

J. Doyle College Sl. Dict. 🌐 cheese [CMU] software. [Ibid.] cheesebox [CMU] computer.

4. the head, the mind.

1999

Observer Mag. 12 Sept. 24: Use your cheesebox and say no, never.

see separate entry.

1. an aquiline nose.

1895		Crowe Aus. Sl. Dict. 16: Cheese Cutter, a prominent, aquiline nose.
1959		I. & P. Opie Lore and Lang. of Schoolchildren (1977) 192: There are also, according to juvenile observers, people with ‘ferret’ noses [...] ‘cheese cutters’, and ‘Rudolphs’.

2. in pl., bandy legs.

1835		G. Kent Modern Flash Dict.
1840		Flash Mirror 9: Your legs would make an excellent pair of cheese-cutters.
1848		Flash Dict. in Sinks of London Laid Open.

3. a large, square peak on a cap; thus a flat cloth cap.

1873		Sl. Dict.
1882		Dundee Courier (Scot.) 13 Oct. 6/6: I carried the two hats [...] the latter a cloth one with a straight ‘cheese-cutter’.
1895		Belfast Wkly News 21 Dec. 3/1: That young fellow with the cheese-cutter cap is ‘dodging Tommy’.
1984		(con. WW2) T. Jones Heart of Oak [ebook] I was dressed in a too-big sea-jersey knitted by my mother [...] a striped Welsh linen shirt, a cheese-cutter cap and shiny black moleskin trousers.
1985		S. Berkoff West in Decadence and Other Plays (1985) 100: The clobber of that mob / cheese-cutters and football boots.
1992		N. Cohn ‘On Broadway’ in N.Y. mag. 6 Jan. 22/1: A tangled mop of hair spilling out from under a cheese-cutter cap.
2017		M. Taylor in Spitalfields Life 1 Oct. 🌐 The villains [...] wore traditional gear, coat and scarf and a cheese cutter, and no-one paid any attention.

4. a (large) knife.

1907		D. Stewart Shadows of the Night in Illus. Police News 20 July 12/3: He plunged his hand in his vest, drawing out an American bowie knife [...] ‘All right, old hoss, your cheese-cutter agin my six-shooter,’ and the one-eyed giant [...] held forth a revolver.
1910		D. Stewart Devil of Dartmoor in Illus. Police News 22 Oct. 12/2: ‘Drink up that wine, or by holy Moses I’ll put this cheese-cutter between your ribs!’.

5. the penis.

1966

Trimble 5000 Adult Sex Words and Phrases.

(US) a knife.

1906		‘O. Henry’ ‘The Coming-Out of Maggie’ in Four Million (1915) 80: Chuck that cheese slicer out of the window.
1921		J.J. Meyer Deer-smellers of Haunted Mountain 204: Give your Emperor a cheese-dagger and see if he has nerve enough for harri-karri .
1927		L. Stott Adventuring with Twelve Year Olds 74: When Jack got down he calmly took out his cheese dagger and was about to rip me open.
1955		‘Ed Lacy’ Best that Ever Did It (1957) 81: He took a switch blade out of his pocket. [...] ‘Cliff, put that cheese sticker away,’ Louise said.
1972		(ref. to mid-1960s) B. Rodgers Queens’ Vernacular 105: cheese-scraper (kwn San Diego, mid ’60s) knife or razor carried for protection.

1. (US) a toady, a sycophant.

1873

J. O’Connor Wanderings of a Vagabond 287: Wa-al now, if Kline and me can’t clean out them cheeseeaters, I’ll never show my mug to the Pints again.

2. (US) an informer.

1943		D. Burley N.Y. Amsterdam News 23 Oct. 21: Please don’t think me to be a cheese eater but this is the only way I can put this scribble to you.
1950		Goldin et al. DAUL 42/2: Cheese-eater. (N. Y. State prisons) An informer.
1951		J. Blake letter 23 Dec. in Joint (1972) 27: The joint is full of cheese-eaters.
1955		B. Schulberg On the Waterfront (1964) 15: I worked too hard for what I got to frig around with a cheese-eater.
1960, 1975		Wentworth & Flexner DAS.
1962		Ragen & Finston World’s Toughest Prison 794: cheese eater – An informer.
1972		E. Grogan Ringolevio 149: I never want to see you again, you cheese-eatin’ motherfucker!
1992		Bentley & Corbett Prison Sl. 35: Cheese Eater also Cheese Pride and Cheesey Rider Expressions used sarcastically in reference to a ‘snitch’ or ‘rat.’.
1997		Da Bomb Summer Supplement 3: Cheese-eater (n.) Someone who gives out information.
2000		Other Side of the Wall: Prisoner’s Dict. July 🌐 Cheese Eater: An informer.

3. (US black) a subservient black person who courts white affection.

2000

Ebonics Primer at www.dolemite.com 🌐 cheese-eater Definition: a white mans’s nigga. a nigga whose one goal in life is to please the white man. Example: Yo, Jerome is one cheese-eating nigga. He was the one who dropped dime on Terrell to the big boss.

1. a sword.

1751		Smollett Peregrine Pickle (1964) 278: He did not value their cheese-toasters a pinch of oakum.
1771		Smollett Humphrey Clinker (1925) I 142: But i’fackins, Mr. Clinker wa’n’t long in his debt – with a good oaken sapling he dusted his doublet, for all his golden cheese toaster.
1785, 1788, 1796		Grose Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue.
1797		Bridges Burlesque Homer (4th edn) II 112: Hector sha’n’t cease o’ th’ bum to kick ’em, / Or with his old cheese-toaster stick ’em.
1811		Lex. Balatronicum.
1819		J.G. Lockhart Peter’s Letters 30: The powdered young puppies of plebeian pages, with their cheese- toasters bruising each others shins ever and anon.
1823		‘Jon Bee’ Dict. of the Turf, the Ring, the Chase, etc.
1840		F. Chamier Spitfire 215: They are a gallant set of fellows in the boats [...] there’s young Philadelphia flourishing his cheese-toaster, as if he would spit us all.
1859		Thackeray Virginians II Ch. 10 82: I’ll drive my cheese-toaster through his body.
1860		J.P. Kennedy Rob of the Bowl 251: He must needs, for a fancy, put on the red coat again, and buckle his cheese-toaster to his thigh.
1889		Dundee Courier 31 Jan. 3/3: Flourishing the ‘cheese-toaster’ in a warlike manner he raised his voice.
1889–90		Barrère & Leland Dict. of Sl., Jargon and Cant.

2. a bayonet.

1834		‘Jack Downing’ Andrew Jackson 99: Give it tu ’em my lads, six inches of your cheese-toasters! [Ibid.] 102: In a wink a solder pin’d him tu the ground with his cheese-toaster.
c.1943		‘Bill O. Lading’ You Chirped a Chinful!! n.p.: Cheese Toaster: Bayonet.

3. (US) a large knife.

1850

Lancaster Gaz. 29 June 4/4: His flight might possibly be accelerated by the flash of a ‘revolver’ or the insertion under his fifth rib of an ‘Arkansas cheese-toaster’.

(US) to intensify a situation, positively or negatively.

1927		D.M. Shoup Marines in China (1987) 98: Lt. H —, noting my misstep, [...] fell in atop of me, thus ‘making the cheese more binding’ as per Lt. B—.
1932		Motion Picture Herald 106 82: To make the cheese more binding this editor and theatre owner is also the town mayor, which is another thing to take some more joy out of Eddie's life.
1948		C.Y. Harrison Nobody’s Fool 126: I asked for a check for one hundred thousand dollars. ‘Sure,’ he said, ‘if you think that’ll make the cheese more binding’.
1956		Keating & Carter Man Who Rocked Boat 235: To make the cheese more binding, Mike's brother, Joe, was reported [...] as having said, ‘I’ve thought from the beginning that he probably fell in the river’.
1963		R. Franken When All Is said & Done 19: Especially having thrown my knee in at the last minute to make the cheese more binding, as it were.
1972		(con. 1916) G. Swarthout Tin Lizzie Troop (1978) 61: And to make the cheese more binding, he knew these things in his very guts.
1982		M. de Jourlet Windhaven’s Triumph 312: Look, Milo [...] just to make the cheese more binding, I’m going to contribute a little something to the business at hand.
1998		J. Valenti at tmeinert.emgt.umr.edu 🌐 On Super Bowl Sunday, the Green Bay Packers will make the cheese more binding for the Denver Broncos. I say Packers by 14.
2001		Newsmax.com 21 Mar. 🌐 To make the cheese more binding, readers who opt for the free version will have to put up with even bigger commercial come-ons and those infuriating pop-up frames that drive Internet readers bonkers.
2010		R.L. Scott Letters from Hills 81: I thank that Delilah jist wants to git out of Hogwaller. Iffen she makes money to boot, well, that jist makes the cheese more binding, don’t you know.

(US) used in mockery of one who is considered to be whining self-pityingly.

2023

F. Bill Back to the Dirt 217: ‘[Y]ou’re talking crazy, hell, you are crazy, sound like your madcow-brained mother. You want some cheese with that whine?’.