Meaning of Cheshire cat | Babel Free

Definitions

1. A fictional cat with a broad fixed grin, made popular by Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (1865).
2. A technique that involves hiding a class's data behind a pointer, so that the code remains binary-compatible even after future changes to members and functionality.
   attributive

Equivalents

Examples

“CHESHIRE CAT. He grins like a Cheshire cat; said of any one who shows his teeth and gums in laughing.”

““Please would you tell me,” said Alice, a little timidly, for she was not quite sure whether it was good manners for her to speak first, “why your cat grins like that?” “It’s a Cheshire-Cat,” said the Duchess, “and that’s why.””

“‘It’s almost as if we’ve gone silly with happiness,’ said Marcus two days later. ‘Everyone in the house going round grinning like a lot of Cheshire Cats! The family I mean.’ ‘And Jess,’ said Kitto quickly. ‘Oh well, Jess is as good as family,’ said Fanny comfortably. Jessamy said nothing, but she looked up quickly and her smile would have rivalled any Cheshire Cat.”

“the Cheshire cat idiom”

“the Cheshire cat technique”

CEFR level