Obs. exc. dial. Also 7 chesfoord, chesseford, 9 dial. cheeseford. [f. CHEESE + ford, possibly a corruption of fat in an unaccented syllable; but not certainly explained (can it have been mixed up with the -hood of CHESSART, chizzard?).] A cheese-vat.
1596. Wills & Inv. N. C. (1860), II. 271. xj chesfordes, for cheese.
1611. Cotgr., Caseret, a cheese-fat, or chesford, to make a cheese in. Ibid., Fromage esclissé, formed in the Cheese-fat; or, that hath still on it the print of the Chesfoord.
1825–79. Jamieson, Chessford, Cheeseford, the mould in which Cheese is made. Also Chizzard, Kaisart.
1881. Evans, Leicestersh. Wds. (E. D. S.), Chesford, var. pron. of ‘cheese-vat.’
