Cheshire cat

American  

noun

1. a constantly grinning cat in Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.

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idioms

1. grin like a Cheshire cat, to smile or grin inscrutably.

Cheshire cat Cultural  

1. A cat with an enormous grin encountered by Alice in Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, by Lewis Carroll. The cat tends to disappear, leaving only its smile hanging in the air.

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“Smiling like a Cheshire cat” refers to anyone with a conspicuous and long-lasting smile.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

Cheshire cat

“If he were an animal, he’d be a Cheshire cat with this big grin ear to ear,” said Lloyd Greif, chief executive of the Los Angeles investment bank Greif & Co.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 29, 2026

Liberal Democrat smiles were sufficiently broad that party leader Sir Ed Davey was found comparing himself to a Cheshire cat.

From BBC ● May 5, 2023

That attitude makes him equally fabulous and terrifying, very much like the Cheshire cat.

From Salon ● Dec. 31, 2022

Enter the scares and shrieks and anxious laughs, and the dependably indispensable Colman Domingo, who pops up with a Cheshire cat grin.

From New York Times ● Aug. 26, 2021

I turned out the light and tried to drop back to sleep, but Joan's face floated before me, bodiless and smiling, like the face of the Cheshire cat.

From "The Bell Jar" by Sylvia Plath