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Big Cheese
Big Cheese
Big Cheese : Phrases
Meaning:
Boss or important person.
Example:
The employees waited with bated breath for the weekly diatribe session with the big cheese.
Origin:
Originating around 1890, this phrase is derived from the British expression the cheese meaning the thing or the correct thing or the best. The British expression itself is a corruption of the Persian chiz (cheez) thing that the British brought back from India around 1840. A big cheese has nothing to do with cheese and should more properly be a big chiz.