What is "cheese cake"

Cheese \Cheese\ (ch[=e]z), n. [OE. chese, AS. c[=e]se, fr. L. caseus, LL. casius. Cf. Casein.]

1. The curd of milk, coagulated usually with rennet, separated from the whey, and pressed into a solid mass in a hoop or mold.

2. A mass of pomace, or ground apples, pressed together in the form of a cheese.

3. The flat, circular, mucilaginous fruit of the dwarf mallow ( Malva rotundifolia). [Colloq.]

4. A low courtesy; -- so called on account of the cheese form assumed by a woman's dress when she stoops after extending the skirts by a rapid gyration.
   --De Quincey.
   --Thackeray.

   Cheese cake, a cake made of or filled with, a composition of soft curds, sugar, and butter.
   --Prior.

   Cheese fly (Zo["o]l.), a black dipterous insect ( Piophila casei) of which the larv[ae] or maggots, called skippers or hoppers, live in cheese.

   Cheese mite (Zo["o]l.), a minute mite ( Tryoglyhus siro) in cheese and other articles of food.

   Cheese press, a press used in making cheese, to separate the whey from the curd, and to press the curd into a mold.

   Cheese rennet (Bot.), a plant of the Madder family ( Golium verum, or yellow bedstraw), sometimes used to coagulate milk. The roots are used as a substitute for madder.

   Cheese vat, a vat or tub in which the curd is formed and cut or broken, in cheese making.