Definition of "cheek"

cheek

/t͡ʃiːk/

noun
countable and uncountable, plural cheeks
1. (anatomy) The soft skin on each side of the face, below the eyes; the outer surface of the sides of the oral cavity.
  Quotations
  There are some shrewd contents in yon same paper, / That steals the colours from Bassanio's cheek: / Some dear friend dead; else nothing in the world / Could turn so much the constitution / Of any constant man. What, worse and worse!— […]
  c. 1596–1598 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merchant of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, [Act III, scene ii]
2. (anatomy, informal, usually in the plural) The lower part of the buttocks that is often exposed beneath very brief underwear, swimwear, or extremely short shorts.
3. (figurative, informal, uncountable) Impudence.
4. (biology, informal) One of the genae, flat areas on the sides of a trilobite's cephalon.
5. One of the pieces of a machine, or of timber or stonework, that form corresponding sides or a similar pair.
  1. (nautical) pump-cheek, pump-cheeks, a piece of wood cut out fork-shaped in which the brake is fastened by means of a bolt and can thus move around and move the upper box of the pump up and down
6. (in the plural) The branches of a bridle bit.
7. Either side of an axehead.
8. (metalworking) The middle section of a flask, made so that it can be moved laterally, to permit the removal of the pattern from the mould.
verb
third-person singular simple present cheeks, present participle cheeking, simple past and past participle cheeked
1. To be impudent towards.
  Quotations
  We did not like him much because he kissed us and was preachy when we cheeked pretty Tallie, who did not rule over us as Dede did […]
  1942, Emily Carr, “Sunday”, in The Book of Small
  We cheeked him over the fence until he chased us off, and then we went down to the Walton Road and cheeked the carters, keeping on the other side of the hedge so.
  1948, George Orwell, Coming Up for Air
  'Well, I do live next door,' I said, in no way antagonistically, and yet I immediately felt as if I had cheeked the headmistress.
  2013, Louise Candlish, The Disappearance of Emily Marr
2. To pull a horse's head back toward the saddle using the cheek strap of the bridle.
  Quotations
  Such horses might need to be "cheeked" for a while.
  1964, John Hendrix, If I Can Do It Horseback: A Cow-Country Sketchbook, page 183
  Thurman caught the bridle headstall and cheeked the horse's head near his left knee when he swung aboard.
  2009, Dusty Richards, The Sundown Chaser
  He cheeked the horse and stepped into the saddle.
  2012, J. Evetts Haley, Charles Goodnight: Cowman and Plainsman
3. To put or keep something in one’s cheek.

Definition of "cheek"

cheek

noun

Quotations

verb

Quotations

Quotations