Cheese (?), n. [OE.
chese, AS. cēse, fr. L. caseus,
LL. casius. Cf. Casein.]
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. De Quincey. Thackeray.
Cheese cake, a cake made of or filled with, a composition of soft curds, sugar, and butter. Prior. -- Cheese fly (Zoöl.), a black dipterous insect
(Piophila casei) of which
the larvæ or maggots, called skippers or
hoppers, live in cheese. -- Cheese mite (Zoöl.), 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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