Also called cheddar cheese. Often Cheddar a hard, smooth-textured cheese, made usually from the whole milk of cows and varying in color from white to deep yellow and in flavor from mild to sharp as it ages.
Slang. money.
The monthly grand prize is $200, and the yearly grand prize is $1,000—that's a lot of cheddar.
(sometimes not capital) any of several types of smooth hard yellow or whitish cheese
a village in SW England, in N Somerset: situated near Cheddar Gorge , a pass through the Mendip Hills renowned for its stalactitic caverns and rare limestone flora. Pop: 4796 (2001)
First recorded in 1655–65; named after Cheddar, village in Somersetshire, England, where the cheese was first made
Cheddar is a common type of hard cheese. You might use cheddar to make your favorite grilled cheese sandwich. Cheddar ranges in flavor from very mild and smooth to a tangy, sharp taste, and it's color can be anything between a creamy white and a deep orange. This type of cheese was originally made in an English town called Cheddar — and it remains the most popular cheese in England, while it's second only to mozzarella in the US.
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Tom and his family supplement the ups and downs of the milk market with a successful farm shop, selling their own beef and pork, plenty of famous Somerset cheddar, and even their own raw milk.
From BBC • May 27, 2026
I’ve made these a dozen different ways: cheddar and chive, goat cheese and red pepper, pizza-inspired, spinach and feta.
From Salon • May 22, 2026
In March, it rolled out Big Arch—a limited-time, large-format burger that features two quarter-pound beef patties, white cheddar cheese, crispy onions, pickles, and a tangy new sauce on a toasted sesame-poppy seed bun.
From Barron's • Apr. 21, 2026
Centers for Disease Control has warned the public not to buy, sell or serve the company’s raw cheddar cheese, which five of those who had an E. coli infection say they ate before their illness.
From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 2, 2026
I don’t want Aunt Melissa to think I’m an irresponsible babysitter, so I choose a bag of cheddar popcorn.
From "South of Somewhere" by Kalena Miller
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
