Meaning of cheek by jowl | Babel Free

Definitions

1. In very close physical proximity, crowded together.
   idiomatic
2. In very close or intimate association.
   broadly, idiomatic

Examples

“We shared the long hours, the often rough seas, the successes and the disappointments in a close companionship with the captains and crews of the Italian boats and also with the little clique of fishermen whose small draggers were moored cheek by jowl with us in Annisquam Harbor.”

“Wee see Merchants, countrey-Justices, and Artificers to march cheeke by joll with our Nobilitie, in valour, and militarie discipline.”

“he had made his peace with the idea of spending half-term cheek-by-jowl on a cruise ship with the world's biggest Titanic enthusiasts.”

“By so doing you will certainly profit the art of fiction. For books have a way of influencing each other. Fiction will be much the better for standing cheek by jowl with poetry and philosophy.”

“Exit and voice, social theorist Albert O. Hirschman's famous dichotomous strategies, collided in the South Carolina countryside, where renewed commitment to the nation existed cheek by jowl with exit from it.”

CEFR level