like cheese at fourpence

adjective

Of a person: waiting idly or timewasting.

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Meanings

adjective
  1. idiomaticOf a person: waiting idly or timewasting.

    Don't stand there like cheese at fourpence.

    1989, Colin Dunne, Hooligan, page 38
    2 more examples

    "Why are you standing there like cheese at fourpence?"

    2003, Rachel Wyatt, Time's Reach, page 75

    Then you can stay sat there like cheese at fourpence till Mrs Henshaw gets back with her lawyer.

    2010, Ruth Hamilton, Mersey View, page 89

Origin

From the mill towns of Lancashire, where fourpence was considered expensive for cheese and hence cheese for sale at that price would not be bought.

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

like cheese at fourpence. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/like%20cheese%20at%20fourpence

MLA

“like cheese at fourpence.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/like%20cheese%20at%20fourpence. Accessed November 5, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “like cheese at fourpence,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/like%20cheese%20at%20fourpence.

Source: like cheese at fourpence on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.