Word.ws English Dictionary

cheek-to-jowl

cheek-to-jowl is the alternative form of cheek by jowl.

Meaning of cheek by jowl

Adverb

cheek by jowl (comparative more cheek by jowl, superlative most cheek by jowl)

  1. (UK, idiomatic) In very close physical proximity; crowded together; side by side.
    • Ile go vvith thee, cheeke by iovvle.c. 1595–1596 (date written), William Shakespeare, A Midsommer Nights Dreame. […] (First Quarto), London: […] [Richard Bradock] for Thomas Fisher, […], published 1600, →OCLC, [Act III, scene ii]...
  2. (UK, figuratively, idiomatic) 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.1929 September, Virginia Woolf, chapter VI, in A Room of One’s Own, uniform edition, London: Leonard and Virginia Woolf at the Hogarth Press, […], published 1931 (April 1935 printing), →OCLC, page 164

See all 3 meanings of cheek by jowl

Forms of cheek-to-jowl

Adverb
comparativemore cheek-to-jowl
superlativemost cheek-to-jowl
Adjective
comparativemore cheek-to-jowl
superlativemost cheek-to-jowl

Questions about cheek-to-jowl

What is cheek-to-jowl the alternative form of?
Cheek-to-jowl is the alternative form of cheek by jowl.

Words near cheek-to-jowl in the dictionary

  1. cheek up
  2. cheek up to
  3. cheek-bone
  4. cheek-bones
  5. cheek-by-jowl
  6. cheek-to-jowl
  7. cheekbone
  8. cheekboned
  9. cheekbones
  10. cheekbony
  11. cheeke

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: cheek-to-jowl (page history and authors); cheek by jowl (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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