cheek by jowl

Cultural  

1. Situated side by side or in close contact: “The commuters were packed in the subway cheek by jowl.”

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cheek by jowl Idioms  

1. Side by side, close together, as in In that crowded subway car we stood cheek by jowl, virtually holding one another up. This term dates from the 16th century, when it replaced cheek by cheek.

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

cheek by jowl

Juxtapositions between high and low, between the virtuous and the criminal, and these things existed cheek by jowl.

From BBC ● Sep. 4, 2025

Ruoff’s team has already used it to make diamond films composed of thousands of tiny crystals packed cheek by jowl.

From Science Magazine ● Apr. 24, 2024

We found his block, low houses cheek by jowl.

From New York Times ● Apr. 28, 2022

And instead of being crammed cheek by jowl in the press section, reporters, along with the justices’ law clerks, are spaced throughout the otherwise-empty chamber.

From Washington Post ● Jan. 7, 2022

I'd be in the big state hospital in the country, cheek by jowl to this private place.

From "The Bell Jar" by Sylvia Plath