cut the cheese

This idiom references the foul smell emitted by some cheeses, many of which have a rind that keep the odor in. Once the rind is pierced, as in the case of slicing it, the smell is released.

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cut the cheese (third-person singular simple present cuts the cheese, present participle cutting the cheese, simple past and past participle cut the cheese)

1. (Canada, US, idiomatic, euphemistic, slang) To flatulate.

   Hey, who cut the cheese?

• break wind
• fart
• flatulate
• pass gas
• See also Thesaurus:flatulate

• cut the cheese in the Dictionary.com Unabridged, v1.0.1, Lexico Publishing Group, 2006.