Cheerer noun One who cheers; one who, or that which, gladdens. "Thou cheerer of our days." Wotton. "Prime cheerer , light." Thomson.

Cheerful adjective Having or showing good spirits or joy; cheering; cheery; contented; happy; joyful; lively; animated; willing.

To entertain a cheerful disposition.
Shak.

The cheerful birds of sundry kind
Do chant sweet music.
Spenser.

A cheerful confidence in the mercy of God.
Macaulay.

This general applause and cheerful shout.
Shak.

Syn. -- Lively; animated; gay; joyful; lightsome; gleeful; blithe; airy; sprightly; jocund; jolly; joyous; vivacious; buoyant; sunny; happy; hopeful.

Cheerfully adverb In a cheerful manner, gladly.

Cheerfulness noun Good spirits; a state of moderate joy or gayety; alacrity.

Cheerily adverb In a cheery manner.

Cheeriness noun The state of being cheery.

Cheeringly adverb In a manner to cheer or encourage.

Cheerisness noun Cheerfulness. [ Obsolete]

There is no Christian duty that is not to be seasoned and set off with cheerishness .
Milton.

Cheerless adjective Without joy, gladness, or comfort.

-- Cheer"less*ly , adverb -- Cheer"less*ness , noun

My cheerful day is turned to cheerless night.
Spenser.

Syn. -- Gloomy; sad; comfortless; dispiriting; dicsconsolate; dejected; melancholy; forlorn.

Cheerly adjective Gay; cheerful. [ Obsolete] Shak.

Cheerly adverb Cheerily. [ Archaic] Tennyson.

Cheerry adjective Cheerful; lively; gay; bright; pleasant; as, a cheery person.

His cheery little study, where the sunshine glimmered so pleasantly.
Hawthorne.

Cheese noun [ Middle English chese , Anglo-Saxon cēse , from Latin caseus , Late Latin casius . Confer Casein .]
1. The curd of milk, coagulated usually with rennet, separated from the whey, and pressed into a solid mass in a hoop or mold.

2. A mass of pomace, or ground apples, pressed together in the form of a cheese.

3. The flat, circular, mucilaginous fruit of the dwarf mallow ( Malva rotundifolia ). [ Colloq.]

4. A low courtesy; -- so called on account of the cheese form assumed by a woman's dress when she stoops after extending the skirts by a rapid gyration. De Quincey. Thackeray.

Cheese cake , a cake made of or filled with, a composition of soft curds, sugar, and butter. Prior . -- Cheese fly (Zoology) , a black dipterous insect ( Piophila casei ) of which the larvæ or maggots, called skippers or hoppers , live in cheese. -- Cheese mite (Zoology) , a minute mite ( Tryoglyhus siro ) in cheese and other articles of food. -- Cheese press , a press used in making cheese, to separate the whey from the curd, and to press the curd into a mold. -- Cheese rennet (Botany) , a plant of the Madder family ( Golium verum , or yellow bedstraw ), sometimes used to coagulate milk. The roots are used as a substitute for madder. -- Cheese vat , a vat or tub in which the curd is formed and cut or broken, in cheese making.

Cheese cloth A thin, loosewoven cotton cloth, such as is used in pressing cheese curds.

Cheeselep noun [ Confer Keslop .] A bag in which rennet is kept.

Cheesemonger noun One who deals in cheese. B. Jonson.

Cheeseparing noun A thin portion of the rind of a cheese. -- adjective Scrimping; mean; as, cheeseparing economy.

Cheesiness noun The quality of being cheesy.

Cheesy adjective Having the nature, qualities, taste, form, consistency, or appearance of cheese.

Cheetah noun [ Hind. chītā .] (Zoology) A species of leopard ( Cynælurus jubatus ) tamed and used for hunting in India. The woolly cheetah of South Africa is C. laneus . [ Written also chetah .]

Chef noun [ French]
1. A chief of head person.

2. The head cook of large establishment, as a club, a family, etc.

3. (Her.) Same as Chief .

Chef-d'œuvre noun ; plural Chefs-d'œuvre . [ French] A masterpiece; a capital work in art, literature, etc.

Chegoe, Chegre noun See Chigoe .

Cheiloplasty noun [ Greek ... a lip + -plasty .] (Surg.) The process of forming an artificial tip or part of a lip, by using for the purpose a piece of healthy tissue taken from some neighboring part.

Cheilopoda noun [ New Latin ] (Zoology) See Chilopoda .

Cheiropter noun (Zoology) One of the Cheiroptera.

Cheiroptera (k> isl/*rŏp"tẽr) noun plural [ New Latin , from Greek chei`r hand + ptero`n wing.] (Zoology) An order of mammalia, including the bats, having four toes of each of the anterior limbs elongated and connected by a web, so that they can be used like wings in flying. See Bat .

Cheiropterous adjective (Zoology) Belonging to the Cheiroptera, or Bat family.

Cheiropterygium noun ; plural Cheiropterygia . [ New Latin , from Greek ... hand + ...; ... wing, fin.] (Anat.) The typical pentadactyloid limb of the higher vertebrates.

Cheirosophy noun [ Greek ... hand + ... knowledge.] The art of reading character as it is delineated in the hand.

-- Chei*ros"o*phist noun

Cheirotherium noun [ New Latin , from Greek ... hand + ... beast.] (Poleon.) A genus of extinct animals, so named from fossil footprints rudely resembling impressions of the human hand, and believed to have been made by labyrinthodont reptiles. See Illustration in Appendix.

Chekelatoun noun See Ciclatoun . [ Obsolete] Chaucer.

Chekmak noun A turkish fabric of silk and cotton, with gold thread interwoven.

Chela noun ; plural Chelæ . [ New Latin , from Greek chhlh` claw.] (Zoology) The pincherlike claw of Crustacea and Arachnida.

Chela noun [ Hind. chēla , orig., slave, from Sanskrit cēta , cētaka , slave, servant.] In India, a dependent person occupying a position between that of a servant or slave and a disciple; hence, a disciple or novice. -- Che"la*ship , noun

Chelate adjective (Zoology) Same as Cheliferous .

Chelerythrine noun [ Greek ... celandine + 'eryqro`s red.] (Chemistry) An alkaloidal principle obtained from the celandine, and named from the red color of its salts. It is a colorless crystalline substance, and acts as an acrid narcotic poison. It is identical with sanguinarine .

Chelicera (ke*lĭs"e*rȧ) noun ; plural Cheliceræ (-rē). [ New Latin , from Greek chhlh` claw + ke`ras horn.] (Zoology) One of the anterior pair of mouth organs, terminated by a pincherlike claw, in scorpions and allied Arachnida. They are homologous with the falcers of spiders, and probably with the mandibles of insects.

Chelidon noun [ New Latin , from Greek chelidw`n .] (Anat.) The hollow at the flexure of the arm.

Chelidonic adjective [ See Celandine .] (Chemistry) Of, pertaining to, or derived from, the celandine.

Chelidonic acid , a weak acid extracted from the celandine ( Chelidonium majus ), as a white crystalline substance.

Chelidonius noun [ Latin (sc. lapillus .)] A small stone taken from the gizzard of a young swallow. -- anciently worn as a medicinal charm.

Chelifer noun [ Greek chhlh` claw + -fer .] (Zoology) See Book scorpion , under Book .

Cheliferous adjective [ Greek chhlh` claw + -ferous .] (Zoology) Having cheliform claws, like a crab.

Cheliform adjective [ Greek chhlh` claw + -form .] (Zoology) Having a movable joint or finger closing against a preceding joint or a projecting part of it, so that the whole may be used for grasping, as the claw of a crab; pincherlike.

Chelone noun [ Greek chelw`nh a tortoise. So named from shape of the upper lip of the corolla.] (Botany) A genus of hardy perennial flowering plants, of the order Scrophulariaceæ , natives of North America; -- called also snakehead , turtlehead , shellflower , etc.

Chelonia (ke*lō"nĭ*ȧ) noun plural [ New Latin , from Greek chelw`nh a tortoise.] (Zoology) An order of reptiles, including the tortoises and turtles, peculiar in having a part of the vertebræ, ribs, and sternum united with the dermal plates so as to form a firm shell. The jaws are covered by a horny beak. See Reptilia ; also, Illust. in Appendix.

Chelonian adjective (Zoology) Of or pertaining to animals of the tortoise kind. -- noun One of the Chelonia.

Chelura noun [ New Latin , from Greek chhlh` claw + ... tail.] (Zoology) A genus of marine amphipod crustacea, which bore into and sometimes destroy timber.

Chely noun A claw. See Chela . [ Obsolete]