Cheshire cat

Meanings

1. 1nounproperliterary

   A character in Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, a cat that fades away until only its smile is left.

   Grammar: Used as a name, so it usually takes the definite article: the Cheshire cat.

   Patterns

   • the Cheshire cat
   • like the Cheshire cat

   In the story, Alice meets the Cheshire cat sitting in a tree.

   The Cheshire cat disappears slowly, leaving its grin behind.

2. 2nouncountablefigurative

   Someone who smiles widely and mysteriously, especially when others cannot tell what they are thinking.

   Grammar: Countable and often used with an or like: a Cheshire cat, grinning like a Cheshire cat.

   Patterns

   • grin like a Cheshire cat
   • smile like a Cheshire cat
   • a Cheshire cat grin

   He came out of the meeting grinning like a Cheshire cat.

   She gave me a Cheshire cat smile and said nothing.

Word forms

Common combinations

grin like a Cheshire cat

When his team won, he was grinning like a Cheshire cat.

a Cheshire cat smile

She answered with a Cheshire cat smile that told me nothing.

the Cheshire cat's grin

The artist drew only the Cheshire cat's grin, floating in the dark.

disappear like the Cheshire cat

By midnight the guests had vanished like the Cheshire cat.

Synonyms and how they differ

smug

An adjective for a self-satisfied look, while Cheshire cat describes the wide, secretive smile itself.

enigmatic

Describes anything puzzling or mysterious; Cheshire cat is more specific to a smiling, unreadable person.

Word family

Cheshire proper noun

An English county; the cat's name comes from it.

grin noun

A very wide smile, the feature most associated with the cat.

Commonly confused: Cheshire cat or Cheshire cheese?

Practice

Make it your own

Write a sentence using “Cheshire cat”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.

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