Colby

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A mild, semi-firm cheese with a smooth texture and orange or white color, similar to cheddar but softer and less tangy
2. A pale yellow or orange American cheese, milder and moister than cheddar, often sliced for sandwiches or melted
3. A semi-hard cheese originally made in Wisconsin, known for its mild flavor and open, slightly elastic texture

Etymology: Colby is a place-name element that has become a common surname and a given name, and its meaning turns on a single contested choice of origin. It traces to Old Norse, the language the Scandinavian settlers brought to northern and eastern England, where it combined a settlement word with one of two possible first elements. One candidate is "Koli", a personal name, so the sense would be "Koli's farmstead" or "Koli's village." The other is "kol", meaning "charcoal," which would give "charcoal settlement," perhaps a place where charcoal was made. Both readings are plausible, and the surviving records do not settle between them. The second element, "býr", meant a farm or settlement, and it is the same ending that appears in place-names across the Danelaw, such as "Grimsby" and "Derby". Many such names were formed by Norse speakers in the areas they settled, and the ending itself survives as the English word "by," as in "bylaw" and "village" in its older sense.

Synonyms: colby cheese