“He smiled like a Cheshire cat and said, ‘It’s been 20 years. LEIGH Griffiths admits he is purring at the prospect of being back among the cream of Europe – and it’s no wonder Peter Lawwell is still grinning like a Cheshire Cat. Related idioms are grins like a Cheshire cat, grinned like a Cheshire cat, grinning liked a Cheshire cat, smile like a Cheshire cat, smiles like a Cheshire cat, smiled like a Cheshire cat, smiling like a Cheshire cat. Note that the word Cheshire is capitalized in the term grin like a Cheshire cat, as it is a proper place name. How cheese sellers induced their customers to cooperate in their method of cheese-eating is unrecorded. The cheese was eaten from tail to head, leaving the cat’s smile as the last part of the cheese to be consumed. The most intriguing story may be that at one time a cheese was manufactured in Cheshire county that was shaped like a cat. There are various stories about painted signs depicting poorly-drawn lions in Cheshire county in the early 1800s. Cheshire is a county in England that is known for its milk and cheese products, surely a reason for Cheshire cats to smile. The term grin like a Cheshire cat predates the publication of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by at least seventy-five years, if not longer. In the story, the Cheshire cat is somewhat inscrutable, and it disappears leaving only its unnerving smile. These connotations are due to the appearance of the Cheshire cat in the children’s novel Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. Another connotation may be a slight malevolence. The idiom grin like a Cheshire cat may have the connotation that the person who is grinning is in possession of knowledge that the beholder is not aware of. Some definitions of the term stipulate that the smile must be so broad as to expose the gums. To grin like a Cheshire cat means to smile broadly.
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