Cheshire cat
Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
Cheshire cat
▶noun a cat depicted with a broad fixed grin, as popularized through Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (1865).
– origin C18: of unknown origin, but it is said that Cheshire cheeses used to be marked with the face of a smiling cat.
'Cheshire cat' also found in these Oxford entries:
