Swiss cheese

Swiss cheese

English

Some Swiss cheese

Noun

Swiss cheese (uncountable)

1. (informal) Synonym of Emmentaler, a Swiss cheese with many holes
2. (colloquial) By extension, any cheese which resembles Emmentaler, especially ones with holes.
3. (figuratively, colloquial) Something that is full of holes or vulnerabilities.
   • 1999, Mark Fisch, Criminology, 1999-2000, page 103:

     "If people really knew the extent to which the Internet is Swiss cheese, they would freak out," Fancher says. As with employee crime, the best protections against attacks by outsiders are matters of common sense, say security experts.

   • 2004, InfoWorld (volume 26, number 13, page 26)

     […] surprise and frustration when systems ultimately decay into a block of security Swiss cheese.

Derived terms

• Swiss-cheesed

Translations

cheese with holes

Danish: schweizerost c Finnish: emmentaljuusto Irish: cáis Eilvéiseach f Norwegian: Bokmål: sveitserost m Nynorsk: sveitserost m

Portuguese: queijo suíço m Swedish: schweizerost c Yiddish: שווייצער קעז‎ m (shveytser kez)