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cheese2

Pronunciation: /tʃiːz/
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Definition of cheese

noun

(in phrase big cheese) informal
  • an important person: he was a really big cheese in the business world

Origin:

1920s: probably via Urdu from Persian čīz 'thing': the phrase the cheese was used earlier to mean 'first-rate' (i.e. the thing)

cheese in other Oxford dictionaries

Definition of cheese in the US English dictionary
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