CHEESE, s. This word is well known to be used in modern English slang for "anything good, first-rate in quality, genuine, pleasant, or advantageous" (Slang Dict.). And the most probable source of the term is P. and H. chīz, 'thing.' For the expression used to be common among Anglo-Indians, e.g., "My new Arab is the real chīz"; "These cheroots are the real chīz," i.e. the real thing. The word may have been an Anglo-Indian importation, and it is difficult otherwise to account for it. [This view is accepted by the N.E.D.; for other explanations see 1 ser. N. & Q. viii. 89; 3 ser. vii. 465, 505.]
CHEETA, s. H. chītā, the Felis jubata, Schreber, [Cynaelurus jubatus, Blanford], or 'Hunting Leopard,' so called from its being commonly trained to use in the chase. From Skt. chitraka, or chitrakāya, lit. 'having a speckled body.'
1563.—"... and when they wish to pay him much honour they call him Ráo; as for example Chita-Ráo, whom I am acquainted with; and this is a proud name, for Chita signifies 'Ounce' (or panther) and this Chita-Rao means 'King as strong as a Panther.'"—Garcia, f. 36.
c. 1596.—"Once a leopard (chīta) had been caught, and without previous training, on a mere hint by His Majesty, it brought in the prey, like trained leopards."—Āīn-i-Akbarī, ed. Blochmann, i. 286.
1610.—Hawkins calls the Cheetas at Akbar's Court 'ounces for game.'—In Purchas, i. 218.
[1785.—"The Cheetah-connah, the place where the Nabob's panthers and other animals for hunting are kept."—Forbes, Or. Mem. 2nd ed. ii. 450.]
1862.—"The true Cheetah, the Hunting Leopard of India, does not exist in Ceylon."—Tennent, i. 140.
1879.—"Two young cheetahs had just come in from Bombay; one of these was as tame as a house-cat, and like the puma, purred beautifully when stroked."—"Jamrach's," in Sat. Review, May 17, p. 612.
It has been ingeniously suggested by Mr. Aldis Wright that the word cheater, as used by Shakspere, in the following passage, refers to this animal:—
Falstaff: "He's no swaggerer, Hostess; a tame cheater i' faith; you may stroke him gently as a puppy greyhound; he'll not swagger."—2nd Part King Henry IV. ii. 4.