smiling like a Cheshire cat

smiling like a Cheshire cat
Meaning
A broad smile.
Origin
Like the smile of the cat in Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. The origin of the phrase is earlier than Carroll. It has associations with the English county of Cheshire although there is no clear evidence whether the reference is to real cats, someone called Cat or a family with a cat on its coat of arms etc.

Meaning and origin of phrases. 2013.

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