cheek

UK: /ˈtʃiːk/ US: /tʃik/ ,(chēk)

WordReference Random House Learner's Dictionary of American English © 2025

cheek /tʃik/   n. 

1. Anatomy either side of the face below the eye and above the jaw:
   [countable] She kissed me on the cheek.
2. rude or disrespectful behavior;
   impudence:
   [uncountable] He's got a lot of cheek, talking back to his parents.

Idioms

3. Idioms cheek by jowl, [ noncount;
   often: ~ + with] very close in intentions, ideas, etc.;
   side by side:
   The vice-president is cheek by jowl with the boss on this deal.

WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2025

cheek  (chēk), n. 

1. Anatomy either side of the face below the eye and above the jaw.
2. Anatomy the side wall of the mouth between the upper and lower jaws.
3. something resembling the side of the human face in form or position, as either of two parts forming corresponding sides of various objects:
   the cheeks of a vise.
4. impudence or effrontery:
   He's got a lot of cheek to say that to me!
5. Slang Terms either of the buttocks.
6. Architecture
   • one side of an opening, as a reveal.
   • either of two similar faces of a projection, as a buttress or dormer.
7. Building [Carpentry.]
   • a piece of wood removed from the end of a timber in making a tenon.
   • a piece of wood on either side of a mortise.
8. Building one side of a hammer head.
9. Time [Horol.] one of two pieces placed on both sides of the suspension spring of a pendulum to control the amplitude of oscillation or to give the arc of the pendulum a cycloidal form.
10. Printing one of the two main vertical supports forming the frame of a hand printing press.
11. Mechanical Engineering [Mach.] either of the sides of a pulley or block.
12. Naval Terms [Naut.] either of a pair of fore-and-aft members at the lower end of the head of a lower mast, used to support trestletrees which in turn support a top and often the heel of a topmast;
    one of the hounds of a lower mast.
13. Metallurgy any part of a flask between the cope and the drag.
14. Idioms cheek by jowl, in close intimacy;
    side by side:
    a row of houses cheek by jowl.
15. Idioms (with) tongue in cheek. See tongue (def. 29).

• bef. 900; Middle English cheke, Old English cē(a)ce; akin to Dutch kaak, Middle Low German kake

cheek′less, adj. 
Synonyms

• 4. nerve, audacity, brass, gall.

Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers::

cheek / tʃiːk/ noun

1. either side of the face, esp that part below the eye
2. impudence; effrontery
3. (often plural) either side of the buttocks
4. (often plural) a side of a door jamb
5. one of the jaws of a vice
6. cheek by jowl ⇒ close together; intimately linked
7. turn the other cheek ⇒ to be submissive and refuse to retaliate even when provoked or treated badly
8. with one's tongue in one's cheek ⇒
   See tongue19

verb

1. (transitive) to speak or behave disrespectfully to; act impudently towards

Etymology: Old English ceace; related to Middle Low German kāke, Dutch kaak