cheese-cake

Definition

1. Noun:
   • A dessert: "cheese-cake" refers to a sweet dessert consisting of a rich, creamy filling made from soft cheese (typically cream cheese), eggs, and sugar, often on a crust made from crushed cookies or graham crackers.
   • Sexually suggestive imagery: In informal American English, "cheese-cake" denotes photographs or images of women posed in a sexually attractive or revealing manner, often with minimal clothing. This usage is now considered dated and sometimes offensive.

Usage Examples

• Dessert:

  • She baked a delicious cheese-cake for the party. (A creamy dessert with a crumb crust.)
  • I ordered a slice of strawberry cheese-cake at the café. (A specific flavor of the dessert.)

• Sexually suggestive imagery:

  • The magazine was full of cheese-cake photos from the 1950s. (Images of women in revealing poses.)
  • He collected old cheese-cake calendars. (Calendars featuring attractive women.)

Advanced Usage

• "cheese-cake shot": a photograph emphasizing a woman's legs or body in a suggestive manner.

  • The film's promotional material included a cheese-cake shot of the actress. (A posed, revealing image.)

• "cheese-cake factor": the degree of sexual suggestiveness in an image or performance.

  • The director reduced the cheese-cake factor to make the film more family-friendly. (Less sexual content.)

Variants and Related Words

• Cheesecake (n): the standard spelling for the dessert; the hyphenated form "cheese-cake" is less common but acceptable.

  • This bakery is famous for its New York-style cheesecake. (A dense, creamy dessert.)

• Cheesecakey (adj): resembling or characteristic of cheesecake (either the dessert or the imagery).

  • The film had a cheesecakey quality that appealed to a male audience. (Suggestive, like old pin-up photos.)

Synonyms

• Dessert: , , (for the food sense).
• Suggestive imagery: , , (for men).

Phrasal Verbs

• None directly associated with "cheese-cake." The word is primarily used as a noun.

Related Idioms

• "Cheese-cake and beefcake": a phrase contrasting sexualized images of women (cheese-cake) and men (beefcake).

  • The magazine featured both cheese-cake and beefcake spreads. (Images of attractive women and men.)

• "Cheese-cake shot": a specific type of camera angle or pose that emphasizes sexual appeal.

  • The photographer instructed the model to give a cheese-cake shot for the cover. (A suggestive pose.)