a. Obs. [Of uncertain etymology: a suggestion is that it = cheese-some ‘of the nature of cheese,’ which suits the phonology, though the sense may be questioned, since cheese is of many kinds.] Of soil: Loose, friable, and free from stones or grit.
1626. Bacon, Sylva, § 665. The Tender, Chessome, and Mellow Earth, is the best; Being meere Mould, between the two Extreames of Clay, and Sand.
1675. Evelyn, Terra (1776), 6. Mould of … more delicate grain, tender, chessom, mellow; clear of stones and grittiness with an eye of loam and sand.
¶ Curiously mistaken by Johnson for a sb.; the error is retained in later Dicts.
