Cheshire

To be smiling smugly or mischievously. The term was popularized by the character in Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. I knew he had a prank planned for April Fools' Day when he arrived at work and was grinning like a Cheshire cat.

One who is smiling smugly or mischievously. The term was popularized by the character in Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. I knew he had a prank planned for April Fools' Day when he arrived at work grinning like a Cheshire cat.

To smile smugly or mischievously. The term was popularized by the character in Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. I knew he had a prank planned for April Fools' Day when he arrived at work grinning like a Cheshire cat.

To grin very broadly and persistently, especially in a smug, mischievous, or self-satisfied manner. The term was popularized by the character in Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, a cat with the ability to disappear whose wide smile would remain after the rest of it had vanished. I knew he had a prank planned for April Fools' Day when he arrived at work smiling like a Cheshire cat. My dad sat on the porch and smiled like a Cheshire cat as he watched me try to fix the engine all by myself, as I had insisted.

Fig. smiling very broadly. (Alludes to a grinning cat in Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.) There he stood, smiling like a Cheshire cat, waiting for his weekly pay.

Smile broadly, especially in a self-satisfied way. For example, John ended the set with a beautiful serve, an ace, and couldn't help grinning like a Cheshire cat . The ultimate origin of this expression, appearing in print since the late 1700s, is disputed, but its most famous exponent was Lewis Carroll, in whose Alice's Adventures in Wonderland the grinning cat gradually vanished from view, with its grin the last part to vanish.

If someone is grinning like a Cheshire cat, or is smiling like a Cheshire cat, they are smiling broadly, usually in a foolish way. Standing on the door step and grinning like a Cheshire Cat was Bertie Owen. He came indoors, smiling like a Cheshire cat, expecting to be congratulated. Note: You can also say that someone has a Cheshire cat grin or a Cheshire cat smile. I complained, but Jennifer stood there with her Cheshire cat grin. A beaming Steve stood in the background, nodding his head up and down and wearing a Cheshire Cat smile on his face. Note: The Cheshire cat is a character from `Alice in Wonderland' (1865) by the English writer Lewis Carroll. This cat gradually disappears until only its huge smile remains. The idea for the character may have come from Cheshire cheese, which was made in the shape of a smiling cat. Alternatively, it may have come from hotel signs in Cheshire, UK, many of which had a picture of a smiling lion on them.

To smile broadly. The origin of this expression, which was well known in the eighteenth century, has been lost. Most explanations involve the traditional Cheshire County cheese, sold in the shape of a wheel and, perhaps, once so molded that it resembled a cat’s grinning face. Another theory holds that it refers to a Cheshire forest ranger named Caterling who frightened off poachers with his fierce grin. At any rate, the term has been appearing in print since the late 1700s in the works of such writers as William Thackeray and Charles Lamb, as well as in the work of its most famous exponent, Lewis Carroll.

Having a perpetual, mischievous grin, one that is often indistinguishable from smugness. Although the Cheshire cat is best known as a character in Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, it appeared much earlier in popular English culture, so the phrase may have originally referred to cheese made in the country of Cheshire and molded roughly to resemble a grinning cat. Lewis Carroll's feline had the ability to disappear until only its smile remained. The cheese variety would be sliced from hind end to front, which similarly gave the impression that its smile—if cheese showed emotion—would be the last to go.