cheek / chēk/ • n. 1. either side of the face below the eye: tears rolled down her cheeks. ∎  either of the inner sides of the mouth. ∎ inf. either of the buttocks. ∎  either of two side pieces or parts in a structure.2. [in sing.] impertinent talk or behavior: he had the cheek to complain.PHRASES: cheek by jowl close together; side by side: the houses were packed cheek by jowl along the coast. [ORIGIN: from a use of jowl in the sense ‘cheek’; the phrase was originally cheek by cheek.]cheek to cheek (of two people dancing) with their heads close together in an intimate way.turn the other cheek refrain from retaliating when one has been attacked or insulted. [ORIGIN: with biblical allusion to Matt. 5:39.]DERIVATIVES: cheeked adj. [in combination] rosy-cheeked.

cheek. Narrow vertical face, usually one of two corresponding opposite faces, as in the sides of an opening or of a projection (e.g. a buttress, dormer-window, or chimney-breast).

cheek †jaw, jawbone; fleshy side of the face OE.; side, side-piece (in techn. uses) XIV; insolence XIX. OE. ċēoce = OFris. ziāke :- WGmc. *keukōn; varying with OE. ċē(a)ce = (M)LG. kāke, kēke, MDu. kāke (Du. kaak) :- WGmc. *kǣkōn.
Hence cheeky XIX.

cheek cheek by jowl in close proximity with, close together (the phrase was originally cheek by cheek).
cheek to cheek (of two people dancing) with their heads close together in an intimate and romantic way.
turn the other cheek refrain from retaliating when one has been attacked or insulted, originally with biblical allusion to Matthew 5:39.