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Cut   /kət/   Listen
verb
Cut  v. t.  (past & past part. cut; pres. part. cutting)  
1.
To separate the parts of with, or as with, a sharp instrument; to make an incision in; to gash; to sever; to divide. "You must cut this flesh from off his breast." "Before the whistling winds the vessels fly, With rapid swiftness cut the liquid way."
2.
To sever and cause to fall for the purpose of gathering; to hew; to mow or reap. "Thy servants can skill to cut timer."
3.
To sever and remove by cutting; to cut off; to dock; as, to cut the hair; to cut the nails.
4.
To castrate or geld; as, to cut a horse.
5.
To form or shape by cutting; to make by incision, hewing, etc.; to carve; to hew out. "Why should a man. whose blood is warm within, Sit like his grandsire cut in alabaster?" "Loopholes cut through thickest shade."
6.
To wound or hurt deeply the sensibilities of; to pierce; to lacerate; as, sarcasm cuts to the quick. "The man was cut to the heart."
7.
To intersect; to cross; as, one line cuts another at right angles.
8.
To refuse to recognize; to ignore; as, to cut a person in the street; to cut one's acquaintance. (Colloq.)
9.
To absent one's self from; as, to cut an appointment, a recitation. etc. (Colloq.) "An English tradesman is always solicitous to cut the shop whenever he can do so with impunity."
10.
(Cricket) To deflect (a bowled ball) to the off, with a chopping movement of the bat.
11.
(Billiards, etc.) To drive (an object ball) to either side by hitting it fine on the other side with the cue ball or another object ball.
12.
(Lawn Tennis, etc.) To strike (a ball) with the racket inclined or struck across the ball so as to put a certain spin on the ball.
13.
(Croquet) To drive (a ball) to one side by hitting with another ball.
To cut a caper. See under Caper.
To cut the cards, to divide a pack of cards into portions, in order to determine the deal or the trump, or to change the cards to be dealt.
To cut both ways, to have effects both advantageous and disadvantageous.
To cut corners, to deliberately do an incomplete or imperfect job in order to save time or money.
To cut a dash or To cut a figure, to make a display of oneself; to give a conspicuous impression. (Colloq.)
To cut down.
(a)
To sever and cause to fall; to fell; to prostrate. "Timber... cut down in the mountains of Cilicia."
(b)
To put down; to abash; to humble. (Obs) "So great is his natural eloquence, that he cuts down the finest orator."
(c)
To lessen; to retrench; to curtail; as, to cut down expenses.
(d)
(Naut.) To raze; as, to cut down a frigate into a sloop.
To cut the knot or To cut the Gordian knot, to dispose of a difficulty summarily; to solve it by prompt, arbitrary action, rather than by skill or patience.
To cut lots, to determine lots by cuttings cards; to draw lots.
To cut off.
(a)
To sever; to separate. "I would to God,... The king had cut off my brother's."
(b)
To put an untimely death; to put an end to; to destroy. "Irenaeus was likewise cut off by martyrdom."
(c)
To interrupt; as, to cut off communication; to cut off (the flow of) steam from (the boiler to) a steam engine.
(d)
To intercept; as,, to cut off an enemy's retreat.
(e)
To end; to finish; as, to cut off further debate.
To cut out.
(a)
To remove by cutting or carving; as, to cut out a piece from a board.
(b)
To shape or form by cutting; as, to cut out a garment. " A large forest cut out into walks."
(c)
To scheme; to contrive; to prepare; as, to cut out work for another day. "Every man had cut out a place for himself."
(d)
To step in and take the place of; to supplant; as, to cut out a rival. (Colloq.)
(e)
To debar. "I am cut out from anything but common acknowledgments."
(f)
To seize and carry off (a vessel) from a harbor, or from under the guns of an enemy.
(g)
to separate from the midst of a number; as, to cut out a steer from a herd; to cut out a car from a train.
(h)
to discontinue; as, to cut out smoking.
To cut to pieces.
(a)
To cut into pieces; as, to cut cloth to pieces.
(b)
To slaughter; as, to cut an army to pieces.
To cut a play (Drama), to shorten it by leaving out passages, to adapt it for the stage.
To cut rates (Railroads, etc.), to reduce the charges for transportation below the rates established between competing lines.
To cut short, to arrest or check abruptly; to bring to a sudden termination. "Achilles cut him short, and thus replied."
To cut stick, to make off clandestinely or precipitately. (Slang)
To cut teeth, to put forth teeth; to have the teeth pierce through the gum and appear.
To have cut one's eyeteeth, to be sharp and knowing. (Colloq.)
To cut one's wisdom teeth, to come to years of discretion.
To cut under, to undersell; as, to cut under a competitor in trade; more commonly referred to as undercut.
To cut up.
(a)
To cut to pieces; as, to cut up an animal, or bushes.
(b)
To damage or destroy; to injure; to wound; as, to cut up a book or its author by severe criticism. "This doctrine cuts up all government by the roots."
(c)
To afflict; to discourage; to demoralize; as, the death of his friend cut him up terribly. (Colloq.)


Cut  v. i.  (past & past part. cut; pres. part. cutting)  
1.
To do the work of an edged tool; to serve in dividing or gashing; as, a knife cuts well.
2.
To admit of incision or severance; to yield to a cutting instrument. "Panels of white wood that cuts like cheese."
3.
To perform the operation of dividing, severing, incising, intersecting, etc.; to use a cutting instrument. "He saved the lives of thousands by his manner of cutting for the stone."
4.
To make a stroke with a whip.
5.
To interfere, as a horse.
6.
To move or make off quickly. (Colloq.)
7.
To divide a pack of cards into two portion to decide the deal or trump, or to change the order of the cards to be dealt.
To cut across, to pass over or through in the most direct way; as, to cut across a field.
To cut and run, to make off suddenly and quickly; from the cutting of a ship's cable, when there is not time to raise the anchor. (Colloq.)
To cut in or To cut into, to interrupt; to join in anything suddenly.
To cut up.
(a)
To play pranks. (Colloq.)
(b)
To divide into portions well or ill; to have the property left at one's death turn out well or poorly when divided among heirs, legatees, etc. (Slang.) "When I die, may I cut up as well as Morgan Pendennis."


noun
Cut  n.  
1.
An opening made with an edged instrument; a cleft; a gash; a slash; a wound made by cutting; as, a sword cut.
2.
A stroke or blow or cutting motion with an edged instrument; a stroke or blow with a whip.
3.
That which wounds the feelings, as a harsh remark or criticism, or a sarcasm; personal discourtesy, as neglecting to recognize an acquaintance when meeting him; a slight. "Rip called him by name, but the cur snarled, snapped his teeth, and passed on. This was an unkind cut indeed."
4.
A notch, passage, or channel made by cutting or digging; a furrow; a groove; as, a cut for a railroad. "This great cut or ditch Secostris... purposed to have made a great deal wider and deeper."
5.
The surface left by a cut; as, a smooth or clear cut.
6.
A portion severed or cut off; a division; as, a cut of beef; a cut of timber. "It should be understood, moreover,... that the group are not arbitrary cuts, but natural groups or types."
7.
An engraved block or plate; the impression from such an engraving; as, a book illustrated with fine cuts.
8.
(a)
The act of dividing a pack cards.
(b)
The right to divide; as, whose cut is it?
9.
Manner in which a thing is cut or formed; shape; style; fashion; as, the cut of a garment. "With eyes severe and beard of formal cut."
10.
A common work horse; a gelding. (Obs.) "He'll buy me a cut, forth for to ride."
11.
The failure of a college officer or student to be present at any appointed exercise. (College Cant)
12.
A skein of yarn.
13.
(Lawn Tennis, etc.) A slanting stroke causing the ball to spin and bound irregularly; also, the spin so given to the ball.
14.
(Cricket) A stroke on the off side between point and the wicket; also, one who plays this stroke.
A cut in rates (Railroad), a reduction in fare, freight charges, etc., below the established rates.
A short cut, a cross route which shortens the way and cuts off a circuitous passage.
The cut of one's jib, the general appearance of a person. (Colloq.)
To draw cuts, to draw lots, as of paper, etc., cut unequal lengths. "Now draweth cut... The which that hath the shortest shall begin."


adjective
Cut  adj.  
1.
Gashed or divided, as by a cutting instrument.
2.
Formed or shaped as by cutting; carved.
3.
Overcome by liquor; tipsy. (Slang)
Cut and dried, prepered beforehand; not spontaneous.
Cut glass, glass having a surface ground and polished in facets or figures.
Cut nail, a nail cut by machinery from a rolled plate of iron, in distinction from a wrought nail.
Cut stone, stone hewn or chiseled to shape after having been split from the quarry.





Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48


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"Cut" Quotes from Famous Books



... rising generation in the rudiments of learning, are denied the advantages of the higher education that would fit them for the duties of their profession. A fitting precedent for the action of our rulers may be found in Shakespeare's, "Titus Andronicus," in which rude men seize the king's daughter, cut out her tongue and cut off her hands, and then bid her go call for water and ...
— History of Woman Suffrage, Volume III (of III) • Various
... to keep Italy in bondage; and the Italians, united in the spirit of independence, will easily settle their account with their own weak princes. Keep off the icy blast which blows from the Russian snows, and the tree of freedom will grow up in the garden of Europe; though cut down by the despots, it will spring anew from the roots in the soil, which was always genial for the tree. Remember that no insurrection of Italians has been crushed by their own domestic tyrants without foreign aid; remember that one-third of the Austrian army which occupies ...
— Select Speeches of Kossuth • Kossuth
... officer. Gouraud had commanded the Second Hussars. His gray moustache hid a huge blustering mouth,—if we may use a term which alone describes that gulf. He did not eat his food, he engulfed it. A sabre cut had slit his nose, by which his speech was made thick and very nasal, like that attributed to Capuchins. His hands, which were short and broad, were of the kind that make women say: "You have the hands of a rascal." His legs seemed slender for his torso. In that fat and active body an ...
— Pierrette • Honore de Balzac
... Plowman, B XIV 246; arain, a spider, spelt yreyn in Wyclif's translation of Psalm XC 10, which, after all, is less correct; arles, money paid on striking a bargain, a highly interesting word, spelt erles in the former half of the thirteenth century; arris, the angular edge of a cut block of stone, etc., from the O.F. areste, L. arista, which has been revived by our Swiss mountain-climbers in the form arete; a-sew, dry, said of cows that give no milk (cf. F. essuyer, to dry); assoilyie, ...
— English Dialects From the Eighth Century to the Present Day • Walter W. Skeat
... view, and a shady walk in the forest behind, are the only attractions of Saint Germain; for the old palace of the kings of France presents the appearance of nothing more than a huge, irregular, unsightly brick building. It is true, a great portion of the walls is of cut stone; but this is the idea which the whole conveys to the spectator. The edifice stands on the site of a chateau built by Louis-le-Gros, which, having been burned down by the English, was thus raised anew from its ruins. Charles V., Francois ...
— Seeing Europe with Famous Authors, Volume 3 • Various


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