Well attestedFrom the people of the place
Swiss cheese
noun · first attested 20th century
The holes made a country into a cheese.
A pale cheese with large holes.
46.7986°N 8.2320°E · Q39
Record
- Relationship
- From the people of the place
- Confidence
- Well attestedThe place link is the standard scholarly account.
- Attested
- 20th century
- Part of speech
- noun
Explanations here are written for this atlas. Dictionary text is not copied; the sources are linked so the claim can be checked.
- Step 1
Switzerland
- In English
Swiss cheese
American usage calls emmental-style cheese simply Swiss, and the phrase now describes anything full of holes.
Also pinned to Switzerland
2 more from the same place
Switzerland
All 10 entries 7 more words from Switzerland
GruyèreThe cheese is named for a small town in Fribourg.GruyèresOerlikonThe anti-aircraft gun is named for a Zurich suburb.Oerlikongnome of ZürichA British cabinet minister coined it in one bad night of a sterling crisis.ZurichLucerne hammerNamed after the arsenal where the surviving examples happened to be stored.LucerneDavos ManA magazine coined it as praise; a Harvard political scientist turned it into an accusation.DavosfianeliteA single small Alpine manganese mine produced a vanadate found nowhere else.Val FerreragrimseliteIt was found inside a hydroelectric cable tunnel bored through the Bernese Alps.Grimsel Pass