Definition of "cherubim"

The kennels occupied a long brick building designed to resemble the palace in miniature. Inside, the walls were painted with murals of dogs frolicking in the woods and giving chase to a frightened fox while chubby canine cherubim smiled down at them.

2010, Pseudonymous Bosch [pseudonym; Raphael Simon], “The Royal Kennels”, in This Isn’t What It Looks Like (The Secret Series; 4), New York, N.Y.: Little, Brown and Company; republished London: Usborne, 2014,

As he looks up at the organ, Miss Tox in the gallery shrinks behind the fat leg of a cherubim on a monument, with cheeks like a young Wind, Captain Cuttle, on the contrary, stands up and waves his hook, in token of welcome and encouragement.

1846 October 1 – 1848 April 1, Charles Dickens, Dombey and Son, London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1848

Again, if we put the two cherubims on each side but still on the lid, the size of the Ark doesn't allow enough space for a King, […]

2014, Rebecca Tourniaire, King of the Ark, page 44