cut
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Pronunciation: ipa: /kʌt/
ipa: /kʊt/
rhymes: -ʌt
Forms: form: cuts
form: cutting
form: cut
form: cutted
form: cut
form: cutted
form: cutten
Etymology: From Middle English cutten, kitten, kytten, ketten (“to cut”) (compare Scots kut, kit (“to cut”)), of North Germanic origin, from Old Norse *kytja, *kutta, from Proto-Germanic *kutjaną, *kuttaną (“to cut”), of uncertain origin, perhaps related to Proto-Germanic *kwetwą (“meat, flesh”) (compare Old Norse kvett (“meat”)). Akin to Middle Swedish kotta (“to cut or carve with a knife”) (compare dialectal Swedish kåta, kuta (“to cut or chip with a knife”), Swedish kuta, kytti (“a knife”)), Norwegian Bokmål kutte (“to cut”), Norwegian Nynorsk kutte (“to cut”), Icelandic kuta (“to cut with a knife”), Old Norse kuti (“small knife”), Norwegian kyttel, kytel, kjutul (“pointed slip of wood used to strip bark”). Displaced native Middle English snithen (from Old English snīþan; compare German schneiden), which still survives in some dialects as snithe or snead. See snide. Adjective sense of "drunk" (now rare and now usually used in the originally jocular derivative form of half-cut) dates from the 17th century, from cut in the leg, to have cut your leg, euphemism for being very drunk.
Senses: examples: text: You must cut this flesh from off his breast.
ref: c. 1596–1598 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merchant of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene i]:
glosses: To incise, to cut into the surface of something.
To perform an incision on, for example with a knife.
examples: text: Would you please cut the cake?
text: Before the whistling winds the vessels fly, / With rapid swiftness cut the liquid way.
ref: 1725, Homer, “Book III”, in [Alexander Pope], transl., The Odyssey of Homer. […], volume I, London: […] Bernard Lintot, →OCLC:
text: First, marinate the tofu. In a bowl, whisk the kecap manis, chilli sauce, and sesame oil together. Cut the tofu into strips about 1cm thick, mix gently (so it doesn't break) with the marinade and leave in the fridge for half an hour.
ref: 2012 May 8, Yotam Ottolenghi, Sami Tamimi, Ottolenghi: The Cookbook, Random House, →ISBN, page 79:
glosses: To incise, to cut into the surface of something.
To divide with a knife, scissors, or another sharp instrument.
examples: text: I have three diamonds to cut today.
text: Why should a man, whose blood is warm within, / Sit like his grandsire cut in alabaster
ref: c. 1596–1598 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merchant of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene i]:
text: loopholes cut through thickest shade
ref: 1667, John Milton, “Book VIII”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC:
glosses: To incise, to cut into the surface of something.
To form or shape by cutting.
examples: text: We don't want your money no more. We just going to cut you.
ref: 1990, Stephen Dobyns, The house on Alexandrine:
glosses: To incise, to cut into the surface of something.
To wound with a knife.
examples: text: The patient said she had been cutting since the age of thirteen.
glosses: To incise, to cut into the surface of something.
To engage in self-harm by making cuts in one's own skin.
examples: text: “My Continental prominence is improving,” I commented dryly. ¶ Von Lindowe cut at a furze bush with his silver-mounted rattan. ¶ “Quite so,” he said as dryly, his hand at his mustache. “I may say if your intentions were known your life would not be worth a curse.”
ref: 1908, W[illiam] B[lair] M[orton] Ferguson, chapter IV, in Zollenstein, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company, →OCLC:
glosses: To incise, to cut into the surface of something.
To deliver a stroke with a whip or like instrument to.
examples: text: Sarcasm cuts to the quick.
text: she feared she should laugh to hear an European preach in Tamul , but on the contrary , was cut to the heart by what she heard
ref: 1829, Elijah Hoole, Personal Narrative of a Mission to the South of India, from 1820 to 1828:
glosses: To incise, to cut into the surface of something.
To wound or hurt deeply the sensibilities of; to pierce.
examples: text: to cut a horse
glosses: To incise, to cut into the surface of something.
To castrate or geld.
glosses: To incise, to cut into the surface of something.
To interfere, as a horse; to strike one foot against the opposite foot or ankle in using the legs.
examples: text: The panels of white-wood that cuts like cheese, / But lasts like iron for things like these;
ref: 1858, Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr., chapter XI, in The Autocrat of the Breakfast-Table, The Deacon's Masterpiece:
glosses: To admit of incision or severance; to yield to a cutting instrument.
examples: text: Travis was cut from the team.
qualifier: social
glosses: To separate, remove, reject or reduce.
To separate or omit, in a situation where one was previously associated.
qualifier: social
glosses: To separate, remove, reject or reduce.
To abridge or shorten a work; to remove a portion of a recording during editing.
examples: text: They're going to cut salaries by fifteen percent.
text: In order to grant the rich these pleasures, the social contract is reconfigured. The welfare state is dismantled. Essential public services are cut so that the rich may pay less tax.
ref: 2013 May 17, George Monbiot, “Money just makes the rich suffer”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 188, number 23, page 19:
text: The principle of prioritising longer-distance trains by cutting services to wayside stations (often leading directly to their closure) is not new.
ref: 2022 January 12, Nigel Harris, “Comment: Unhappy start to 2022”, in RAIL, number 948, page 3:
qualifier: social
glosses: To separate, remove, reject or reduce.
To reduce, especially intentionally.
examples: text: I cut fifth period to hang out with Angela.
text: An English tradesman is always solicitous to cut the shop whenever he can do so with impunity.
ref: 1833, Thomas Hamilton, Men and Manners in America:
qualifier: social
glosses: To separate, remove, reject or reduce.
To absent oneself from (a class, an appointment, etc.).
examples: text: I gotta cut but I'll see you tomorrow, okay?
text: my friends and i had gone for lunch but i had to cut early and couldn't get dessert (which if you know me it's my top priority) so they got it packed and dropped off at my place without a word "open the lift and take it" ?????????? how is this real i will literally cry
ref: 2023 September 3, @tamashbean, Twitter, archived from the original on 25 Apr 2024:
qualifier: social
glosses: To separate, remove, reject or reduce.
To leave abruptly.
synonyms: dip
examples: text: After the incident at the dinner party, people started to cut him on the street.
text: At first it had been very painful to him to meet any of his old friends, … but this soon passed; either they cut him, or he cut them; it was not nice being cut for the first time or two, but after that, it became rather pleasant than not … The ordeal is a painful one, but if a man's moral and intellectual constitution are naturally sound, there is nothing which will give him so much strength of character as having been well cut.
ref: 1903, Samuel Barber, The Way of All Flesh chapter 73
text: The ordinary people greet him (Aaron Burr) warmly while the respectable folk tend to cut him dead.
ref: 1973, Gore Vidal, Burr
text: The Monthly Magazine, Or, British Register for 1798 included an explanation by a reader of how the cut was carried out in his college days in a lengthy letter to the editor, signed by the pseudonym "Ansonius." In his rambling letter, Ansonius noted that when he was at college, " … if a man passed an old acquaintance wittingly, without recognizing him, he was said— ‘To cut him.’" Ansonius then went on to explain the performance of the cut and noted that for a time the term "to spear" was used instead of to cut. However, that term did not remain long in use, and this act was generally known as "the cut" ever after.
ref: 27 September 2013, Kane, Kathryn, The Regency Redingote Blog The Cut: The Ultimate & Final Social Weapon
synonyms: spear
qualifier: social
glosses: To ignore as a social rebuff or snub.
examples: text: The camera then cut to the woman on the front row who was clearly overcome and crying tears of joy.
topics: broadcasting
film
media
television
glosses: To make an abrupt transition from one scene or image to another.
topics: broadcasting
film
media
television
glosses: To edit a film by selecting takes from original footage.
examples: text: Select the text, cut it, and then paste it in the other application.
topics: computing
engineering
mathematics
natural-sciences
physical-sciences
sciences
glosses: To remove (text, a picture, etc.) and place in memory in order to paste at a later time.
examples: text: One student kept trying to cut in front of the line.
text: Excuse me, do you mind if I cut?!
ref: 2010 June 8, guy & rOdd, “Brevity”, in gocomics.com:
glosses: To enter a queue in the wrong place.
examples: text: This road cuts right through downtown.
text: Neither Joleon Lescott nor Vieira appeared to make any contact with Dyer as he cut between them.
ref: 2011 January 18, Daniel Taylor, “Manchester City 4 Leicester City 2”, in Guardian Online:
text: Most of the Himalayan rivers have been relatively untouched by dams near their sources. Now the two great Asian powers, India and China, are rushing to harness them as they cut through some of the world's deepest valleys.
ref: 2013 August 16, John Vidal, “Dams endanger ecology of Himalayas”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 189, number 10, page 8:
glosses: To intersect or cross in such a way as to divide in half or nearly so.
topics: ball-games
cricket
games
hobbies
lifestyle
sports
glosses: To make the ball spin sideways by running one's fingers down the side of the ball while bowling it.
topics: ball-games
cricket
games
hobbies
lifestyle
sports
glosses: To deflect (a bowled ball) to the off, with a chopping movement of the bat.
examples: text: The football player cut to his left to evade a tackle.
glosses: To change direction suddenly.
examples: text: If you cut then I'll deal.
glosses: To divide a pack of playing cards into two parts, often followed by placing the two parts back together in the opposite order.
examples: text: I'll cut a check for you.
text: I didn't deserve it, but he cut me a deal.
text: to cut a deal, to cut deals
text: to cut a fantastic deal, to cut a raw deal
glosses: To make, negotiate; to finalise, conclude; to issue.
examples: text: The best malt whiskies are improved if they are cut with a dash of water.
text: The bartender cuts his beer to save money and now it's all watery.
text: Drug dealers sometimes cut cocaine with lidocaine.
glosses: To dilute or adulterate something, especially a recreational drug.
examples: text: Arsenal were starting to work up a head of steam and Tractor Boys boss Paul Jewell cut an increasingly frustrated figure on the touchline.
ref: 2011 January 25, Paul Fletcher, “Arsenal 3-0 Ipswich (agg. 3-1)”, in BBC:
glosses: To exhibit (a figure having some trait).
examples: text: The schoolchildren were told to cut the noise.
text: Cut the engines when the plane comes to a halt!
synonyms: cut out
glosses: To stop, disengage, or cease.
synonyms: cut out
glosses: To renounce or give up.
topics: hobbies
lifestyle
sports
glosses: To drive (a ball) to one side, as by (in billiards or croquet) hitting it fine with another ball, or (in tennis) striking it with the racket inclined.
topics: bodybuilding
hobbies
lifestyle
sports
coordinate_terms: bulk
glosses: To lose body mass, aiming to keep muscle but lose body fat.
examples: text: to cut a caper
text: 'Choke, chicken, there's more a-hatching,' said Miss Mag, in a sort of aside, and cutting a flic-flac with a merry devilish laugh, and a wink to Puddock.
ref: 1863, Sheridan Le Fanu, The House by the Churchyard:
glosses: To perform (an elaborate dancing movement etc.).
examples: text: Now one of us had better cut down to Courtfield on a bike […]
ref: 1950, Frank Richards, Billy Bunter's Benefit:
glosses: To run or hurry.
Synonyms: word: carve
word: chive
word: cut
word: incide
word: incise
word: lacerate
word: race
word: share
word: snead
word: snick
word: slash
word: slive
word: snithe
Hypernyms: word: divide
word: impale
Hyponyms: word: abscind
word: becarve
word: bisect
word: calver
word: cantle
word: carve up
word: chainsaw
word: chamfer
word: chine
word: chop
word: chop up
word: clip
word: collop
word: crop
word: cube
word: delimb
word: dice
word: discide
word: dock
word: drawknife
word: drib
word: entail
word: excide
word: exsect
word: flitch
word: forcut
word: hack
word: head
word: hew
word: indent
word: intersect
word: jugulate
word: knife
word: guillotine
word: grate
word: groove
word: layer
word: lop
word: microtome
word: mince
word: mow
word: notch
word: poll
word: presection
word: rasher
word: reap
word: scissor
word: score
word: scythe
word: section
word: sever
word: shave
word: shear
word: shred
word: sickle
word: slice
word: slit
word: sliver
word: swive
word: tocut
word: top
word: tranch
word: trim
word: trisect
word: ultramicrotome
word: whittle
Coordinate terms: word: stab
Derived terms: sense: single words
word: becut
sense: single words
word: buzzcut
sense: single words
word: crosscut
sense: single words
word: cutaway
sense: single words
word: cut-away
sense: single words
word: Cutbush
sense: single words
word: cutpurse
sense: single words
word: cutround
sense: single words
word: cuttability
sense: single words
word: cuttable
sense: single words
word: cuttage
sense: single words
word: cuttee
sense: single words
word: cutter
sense: single words
word: cutthroat
sense: single words
word: cut to the bone
sense: single words
word: cutwater
sense: single words
word: dykes
sense: single words
word: forcut
sense: single words
word: forecut
sense: single words
word: forthcut
sense: single words
word: incut
sense: single words
word: intercut
sense: single words
word: miscut
sense: single words
word: offcut
sense: single words
word: outcut
sense: single words
word: overcut
sense: single words
word: precut
sense: single words
word: recut
sense: single words
word: tocut
sense: single words
word: uncut
sense: single words
word: undercut
sense: single words
word: upcut
sense: multiword phrases
word: any way one cuts it
sense: multiword phrases
word: caper-cutting
sense: multiword phrases
word: caper cutting
sense: multiword phrases
word: cut about
sense: multiword phrases
word: cut a caper
sense: multiword phrases
word: cut across
sense: multiword phrases
word: cut a dash
sense: multiword phrases
word: cut a deal
sense: multiword phrases
word: cut a feather
sense: multiword phrases
word: cut a figure
sense: multiword phrases
word: cut along
sense: multiword phrases
word: cut and carve
sense: multiword phrases
word: cut and choose
sense: multiword phrases
word: cut and come again
sense: multiword phrases
word: cut and cover
sense: multiword phrases
word: cut-and-cover
sense: multiword phrases
word: cut and paste
sense: multiword phrases
word: cut and run
sense: multiword phrases
word: cut and sew
sense: multiword phrases
word: cut-and-shut
sense: multiword phrases
word: cut a rug
sense: multiword phrases
word: cut a shine
sense: multiword phrases
word: cut a swath
sense: multiword phrases
word: cut a swathe
sense: multiword phrases
word: cut away
sense: multiword phrases
word: cut away one's soul
sense: multiword phrases
word: cut a wide swath
sense: multiword phrases
word: cut a wide swathe
sense: multiword phrases
word: cut back
sense: multiword phrases
word: cut bait
sense: multiword phrases
word: cut both ways
sense: multiword phrases
word: cut capers
sense: multiword phrases
word: cut corners
sense: multiword phrases
word: cut deeper than a knife
sense: multiword phrases
word: cut down
sense: multiword phrases
word: cut down to size
sense: multiword phrases
word: cut for sign
sense: multiword phrases
word: cut from the same cloth
sense: multiword phrases
word: cut ice
sense: multiword phrases
word: cut in
sense: multiword phrases
word: cut in line
sense: multiword phrases
word: cut into
sense: multiword phrases
word: cut it
sense: multiword phrases
word: cut it close
sense: multiword phrases
word: cut it fat
sense: multiword phrases
word: cut it fine
sense: multiword phrases
word: cut it loose
sense: multiword phrases
word: cut it out
sense: multiword phrases
word: cut it up
sense: multiword phrases
word: cut like a knife
sense: multiword phrases
word: cut logs
sense: multiword phrases
word: cut loose
sense: multiword phrases
word: cut off
sense: multiword phrases
word: cut off one's head
sense: multiword phrases
word: cut off someone's head
sense: multiword phrases
word: cut one
sense: multiword phrases
word: cut one loose
sense: multiword phrases
word: cut one's cloth to suit one's purse
sense: multiword phrases
word: cut one's coat according to one's cloth
sense: multiword phrases
word: cut oneself
sense: multiword phrases
word: cut one's eyeteeth
sense: multiword phrases
word: cut one's losses
sense: multiword phrases
word: cut one's lucky
sense: multiword phrases
word: cut one's own throat
sense: multiword phrases
word: cut one's stick
sense: multiword phrases
word: cut one's teeth
sense: multiword phrases
word: cut out
sense: multiword phrases
word: cut red tape
sense: multiword phrases
word: cut round
sense: multiword phrases
word: cut short
sense: multiword phrases
word: cut slingload
sense: multiword phrases
word: cut someone cold
sense: multiword phrases
word: cut someone dead
sense: multiword phrases
word: cut someone loose
sense: multiword phrases
word: cut someone off at the knees
sense: multiword phrases
word: cut someone's comb
sense: multiword phrases
word: cut someone slack
sense: multiword phrases
word: cut someone some slack
sense: multiword phrases
word: cut someone's throat
sense: multiword phrases
word: cut someone up
sense: multiword phrases
word: cut some shapes
sense: multiword phrases
word: cut stick
sense: multiword phrases
word: cut swathes
sense: multiword phrases
word: cut the baby in half
sense: multiword phrases
word: cut the bullshit
sense: multiword phrases
word: cut the cheese
sense: multiword phrases
word: cut the coat according to the cloth
sense: multiword phrases
word: cut the cord
sense: multiword phrases
word: cut the crap
sense: multiword phrases
word: cut the fool
sense: multiword phrases
word: cut the Gordian knot
sense: multiword phrases
word: cut the ground from under someone's feet
sense: multiword phrases
word: cut the knot
sense: multiword phrases
word: cut the mustard
sense: multiword phrases
word: cut the muster
sense: multiword phrases
word: cut the pigeon wing
sense: multiword phrases
word: cut the rug
sense: multiword phrases
word: cut the shit
sense: multiword phrases
word: cut the umbilical cord
sense: multiword phrases
word: cut-through
sense: multiword phrases
word: cutting block
sense: multiword phrases
word: cutting board
sense: multiword phrases
word: cutting contest
sense: multiword phrases
word: cutting edge
sense: multiword phrases
word: cutting fluid
sense: multiword phrases
word: cutting garden
sense: multiword phrases
word: cutting horse
sense: multiword phrases
word: cutting room
sense: multiword phrases
word: cut to black
sense: multiword phrases
word: cut to ribbons
sense: multiword phrases
word: cut to the chase
sense: multiword phrases
word: cut to the quick
sense: multiword phrases
word: cut under
sense: multiword phrases
word: cut up
sense: multiword phrases
word: cut up shapes
sense: multiword phrases
word: cut wind
sense: multiword phrases
word: cut with a knife and fork
sense: multiword phrases
word: diamond cut diamond
sense: multiword phrases
word: don't cut yourself on that edge
sense: multiword phrases
word: fish or cut bait
sense: multiword phrases
word: fussy cut
sense: multiword phrases
word: have one's work cut out for one
sense: multiword phrases
word: is someone cutting onions
sense: multiword phrases
word: jump-cut
sense: multiword phrases
word: leaf-cutting
sense: multiword phrases
word: measure twice and cut once
sense: multiword phrases
word: ninjas cutting onions
sense: multiword phrases
word: nut cutting
sense: multiword phrases
word: one's stomach thinks one's throat has been cut
sense: multiword phrases
word: trust everybody, but cut the cards
sense: multiword phrases
word: words cut deep
sense: multiword phrases
word: you could cut the atmosphere with a knife
Related terms: copy
paste