Reader's question: cheek to jowl In life, slaves lived in attics, hallways and beneath porches, cheek to jowl with their masters and mistresses. Could you explain “cheek to jowl”?

My comments: It means slaves live in close quarters with their masters and mistresses.

“Jowl” refers to skin that covers either side of a person lower jaw, on either side of the face. “Cheek”, of course, refers to either side of the face above the jaw. Needlessly to say, jowls and cheeks meet at the corners of one’s jaw.

Hence, if someone lives cheek to jowl, or cheek by jowl, with another, they live together very closely.

Related stories:

Nuts and bolts

In that vein

The devil you know…

Right out of the gate

Leap-frog

Up the ante

loose ends

Nose-bleed section

Off the rails

Keeping up with the Jones's

Benefits package

Closed-door talk

March Madness

On-again,off-again

Go to Zhang Xin's column

本文仅代表作者本人观点，与本网立场无关。欢迎大家讨论学术问题，尊重他人，禁止人身攻击和发布一切违反国家现行法律法规的内容。

Zhang Xin has been with China Daily since 1988, when he graduated from Beijing Foreign Studies University. Write him at: zhangxin@chinadaily.com.cn, or raise a question for potential use in a future column.