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Words, grammatical forms and meanings linked to the ontology.

like cheese at fourpence en · ADJ

Pronunciation

Etymology

From the mill towns of Lancashire, where fourpence was considered expensive for cheese and hence cheese for sale at that price would not be bought.

Meanings

  1. (idiomatic) Of a person: waiting idly or timewasting.
    • Then you can stay sat there like cheese at fourpence till Mrs Henshaw gets back with her lawyer. 2010, Ruth Hamilton, Mersey View, page 89:
    • "Why are you standing there like cheese at fourpence?" 2003, Rachel Wyatt, Time's Reach, page 75:
    • Don't stand there like cheese at fourpence. 1989, Colin Dunne, Hooligan, page 38: