The cheese was eaten from tail to head, leaving the cat’s smile as the last part of the cheese to be consumed. The most intriguing story may be that at one time a cheese was manufactured in Cheshire county that was shaped like a cat. There are various stories about painted signs depicting poorly-drawn lions in Cheshire county in the early 1800s. Cheshire is a county in England that is known for its milk and cheese products, surely a reason for Cheshire cats to smile. The term grin like a Cheshire cat predates the publication of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by at least seventy-five years, if not longer. In the story, the Cheshire cat is somewhat inscrutable, and it disappears leaving only its unnerving smile. These connotations are due to the appearance of the Cheshire cat in the children’s novel Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.

Another connotation may be a slight malevolence. The idiom grin like a Cheshire cat may have the connotation that the person who is grinning is in possession of knowledge that the beholder is not aware of. Some definitions of the term stipulate that the smile must be so broad as to expose the gums. To grin like a Cheshire cat means to smile broadly. We’ll look at the meaning of this term, its probable origins, and some examples of the phrase’s use in a few sentences. However, Carroll did not invent the term grin like a Cheshire cat. The idiom grin like a Cheshire cat was popularized by the children’s story Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll, published in 1865.

Grinning like a chessy cat