Cheese n.
1. The curd of milk, coagulated usually with rennet, separated from the whey, and pressed into a solid mass in a hoop or mold.
2. A mass of pomace, or ground apples, pressed together in the form of a cheese.
3. The flat, circular, mucilaginous fruit of the dwarf mallow (Malva rotundifolia). [Colloq.]
4. A low courtesy; -- so called on account of the cheese form assumed by a woman's dress when she stoops after extending the skirts by a rapid gyration.
Cheese cake, a cake made of or filled with, a composition of soft curds, sugar, and butter. --Prior.
Cheese fly Zool., a black dipterous insect (Piophila casei) of which the larvæ or maggots, called skippers or hoppers, live in cheese.
Cheese mite Zool., a minute mite (Tryoglyhus siro) in cheese and other articles of food.
Cheese press, a press used in making cheese, to separate the whey from the curd, and to press the curd into a mold.
Cheese rennet Bot., a plant of the Madder family (Golium verum, or yellow bedstraw), sometimes used to coagulate milk. The roots are used as a substitute for madder.
Cheese vat, a vat or tub in which the curd is formed and cut or broken, in cheese making.
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