cheek up to

present singular third person cheeks up to · participle present cheeking up to · participle past cheeked up to · past cheeked up to

1. informaltransitiveTo act disrespectfully toward (someone).

   I suppose the nursing home was glad to get rid of him. He made passes at the youngest nurses and cheeked up to the older ones.

   2012 March 20, Muriel Spark, Reality and Dreams: A Novel, Open Road Media, →ISBN

   1 more example

   She thought of her sister Elizabeth with her eight, and remembered that one who cheeked up to the teachers, so pretty and sulky and shabby, ...

   2001 November 17, Muriel Spark, All the Stories of Muriel Spark, New Directions Publishing, →ISBN, page 44

   Synonyms: cheek up