He looked back and pronounced with a faltering voice, 'O! 'tis very well—damn my blood! I shall find a time.' I signified my contempt of him by thrusting my tongue in my cheek, which humbled him so much, that he scarce swore another oath aloud during the whole journey.[5]
The fellow who gave this all-hail thrust his tongue in his cheek to some scapegraces like himself.
It is not clear how Scott intended readers to understand the phrase.[1] The more modern ironic sense appeared in the 1842 poem "The Ingoldsby Legends" by the English clergyman Richard Barham, in which a Frenchman inspects a watch and cries:
'Superbe! Magnifique!' / (with his tongue in his cheek)[1]
The ironic usage originates with the idea of suppressed mirth—biting one's tongue to prevent an outburst of laughter.[6]