cheek [OE] The Old English word cheek, meaning both cheek and jaw, came to mean ‘rude or disrespectful behaviour’ in the early 19th century. Face had been used in the same way from the early 16th century. Cheeky was first used in the mid 19th century. Cheeks was used of the buttocks from the mid 17th century, although cheek had been used for other cheek-like things for over a century longer. In cheek by jowl, meaning ‘very close together’, jowl [OE] simply means ‘cheek’. In fact the original form of the phrase was cheek by cheek. To turn the other cheek [E16th] comes from the Gospel of Matthew: ‘But I say to ye, That ye resist not evil; but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other.’