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Cut off   /kət ɔf/   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.)


adverb
Off  adv.  In a general sense, denoting from or away from; as:
1.
Denoting distance or separation; as, the house is a mile off.
2.
Denoting the action of removing or separating; separation; as, to take off the hat or cloak; to cut off, to pare off, to clip off, to peel off, to tear off, to march off, to fly off, and the like.
3.
Denoting a leaving, abandonment, departure, abatement, interruption, or remission; as, the fever goes off; the pain goes off; the game is off; all bets are off.
4.
Denoting a different direction; not on or towards: away; as, to look off.
5.
Denoting opposition or negation. (Obs.) "The questions no way touch upon puritanism, either off or on."
From off, off from; off. "A live coal... taken with the tongs from off the altar."
Off and on.
(a)
Not constantly; not regularly; now and then; occasionally.
(b)
(Naut.) On different tacks, now toward, and now away from, the land.
To be off.
(a)
To depart; to escape; as, he was off without a moment's warning.
(b)
To be abandoned, as an agreement or purpose; as, the bet was declared to be off. (Colloq.)
To come off, To cut off, To fall off, To go off, etc. See under Come, Cut, Fall, Go, etc.
To get off.
(a)
To utter; to discharge; as, to get off a joke.
(b)
To go away; to escape; as, to get off easily from a trial. (Colloq.)
To take off To do a take-off on, To take off, to mimic, lampoon, or impersonate.
To tell off
(a)
(Mil.) to divide and practice a regiment or company in the several formations, preparatory to marching to the general parade for field exercises.
(b)
to rebuke (a person) for an improper action; to scold; to reprimand.
To be well off, to be in good condition.
To be ill off, To be badly off, to be in poor condition.





Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48


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"Cut off" Quotes from Famous Books



... prayers. They then go on the gravel walk, and traverse it round three times on their bare knees, often till the blood starts in the operation, repeat their prayers, then traverse three times round a tree on their bare knees, but upon the grass. Having performed these exercises they cut off locks of their hair and tie them on the branches of the tree ...
— Three Thousand Years of Mental Healing • George Barton Cutten
... made his dinner of the raw head of a large halibut, just caught. Before any was given to the chief, two of his servants eat the gills, without any other dressing, besides squeezing out the slime. This done, one of them cut off the head of the fish, took it to the sea and washed it, then came with it, and sat down by the chief, first pulling up some grass, upon a part of which the head was laid, and the rest was strewed before the chief. He then cut large ...
— A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels, Volume 16 • Robert Kerr
... Outlook, tells of an unusual proof of animal surgery in the case of an old muskrat that had cut off both of his forelegs, probably at different times, and had grown very wise in avoiding man-made traps, and when found, had covered the wound with a sticky vegetable gum from a pine tree. "An old Indian who lives and hunts ...
— The Human Side of Animals • Royal Dixon
... deprived, and precisely at the age when they are most fruitful, of all these precious contacts, of all these indispensable elements of assimilation. For seven or eight years on end he is shut up in a school, and is cut off from that direct personal experience which would give him a keen and exact notion of men and things and of the various ways ...
— The Crowd • Gustave le Bon
... comprehension and demonstration. If a rod of soft iron be wound around with a number of turns of insulated wire, and a current of electricity be sent through the wire, the rod will be instantly magnetized and will remain a magnet as long as the current flows; but when the current is cut off the magnetic effect instantly ceases. This device is known as an electromagnet, and the charging and discharging of such a magnet may, of course, be repeated indefinitely. Inasmuch as a magnet has the power of attracting to itself pieces ...
— Edison, His Life and Inventions • Frank Lewis Dyer and Thomas Commerford Martin


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