CHEEK BY JOWL

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does cheek by jowl mean? 

• CHEEK BY JOWL (adverb)
  The adverb CHEEK BY JOWL has 1 sense:

1. in close proximity

  Familiarity information: CHEEK BY JOWL used as an adverb is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• CHEEK BY JOWL (adverb)

Sense 1

Meaning:

In close proximity

Context example:

the houses were jumbled together cheek by jowl

 Context examples 

Even Ruth was hurt, for she had some regard for appearances, and her lover, cheek by jowl with Maria, at the head of that army of Portuguese ragamuffins, was not a pretty sight.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

He summoned them before him in apparitional procession: Bernard Higginbotham arm in arm with Mr. Butler, Hermann von Schmidt cheek by jowl with Charley Hapgood, and one by one and in pairs he judged them and dismissed them—judged them by the standards of intellect and morality he had learned from the books.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)