cheek for chowl

comparative more cheek for chowl · superlative most cheek for chowl

1. ScotlandidiomaticSynonym of cheek by jowl (“in very close physical proximity; crowded together; side by side”).

   [I]t is not seemly to stand cheek-for-chowl confronting us that gate.

   1822 May 29, [Walter Scott], chapter III, in The Fortunes of Nigel. […], volume III (in English), Edinburgh: […] [James Ballantyne and Co.] for Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Hurst, Robinson, and Co., →OCLC, page 87

   3 more examples

   E'en cheek for chevv he'd ſeat him 'mang them a', / And tauk his mind 'bout kittle points of law.

   [1728, Allan Ramsay, “Robert, Richy, and Sandy: A Pastoral on the Death of Matthew Prior, Esq: Inscribed to the Right Honourable Person Designed by the Old Shepherd”, in Poems, [Edinburgh?]: [s.n.], published 1760, →OCLC, page 187

   Then on the tither hand preſent her, / A blackguard Smuggler, right behint her, / An' cheek-for-chovv, a chuffie Vintner, / Colleaguing join, / Picking her pouch as bare as VVinter, / Of a' kind coin.

   1786, Robert Burns, “The Author’s Earnest Cry and Prayer, to the Right Honourable and Honourable, the Scotch Representatives in the House of Commons”, in Poems, Chiefly in the Scottish Dialect. […], 2nd edition, volume I, Edinburgh: […] T[homas] Cadell, […], and William Creech, […], published 1793, →OCLC, page 27

   In puir auld Scotland's Parliament they a' sate thegither, cheek for choul, and than they did na need to hae the same blethers twice ower again.

   1817 December 31 (indicated as 1818), [Walter Scott], chapter I, in Rob Roy. […], volume II, Edinburgh: […] James Ballantyne and Co. for Archibald Constable and Co. […]; London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, →OCLC, page 17

   Synonyms: cheek by jowl