cheek by jowl

adv
/ˌt͡ʃiːk baɪ ˈd͡ʒaʊl/UK/ˌt͡ʃik baɪ ˈd͡ʒaʊl/US

Etymology

From cheek + by + jowl (“cheek; jaw”) (or possibly jowl (“fold of fatty flesh under the chin, around the cheeks, or lower jaw; cheek”) or jowl (“(obsolete) head”)), suggesting people so close to each other that the cheek of one person is next to the jowl of another.

  1. derived from *gʷelu- — “to swallow
  2. inherited from *kelǭ — “gullet
  3. inherited from *kelā
  4. inherited from ċeole — “throat
  5. inherited from cholle — “wattle, jowl

Definitions

  1. In very close physical proximity

    In very close physical proximity; crowded together; side by side.

    • Ile go vvith thee, cheeke by iovvle.
    • VVee ſee Marchants, countrie-Iuſtices, and Artificers to march cheeke by joll vvith our Nobilitie, in valour, and military diſcipline.
  2. In very close or intimate association.

    • [B]ooks have a way of influencing each other. Fiction will be much the better for standing cheek by jowl with poetry and philosophy.
    • Exit and voice, social theorist Albert O[tto] Hirschman's famous dichotomous strategies, collided in the South Carolina countryside, where renewed commitment to the nation existed cheek by jowl with exit from it.
  3. Often in the form cheek-by-jowl

    Often in the form cheek-by-jowl: in very close physical proximity; crowded together; tightly packed.

The neighborhood

Vish — recursive loop

No curated loop yet for cheek by jowl. Loops are being traced one word at a time while the ingestion pipeline matures.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA