Cut v. World English Historical Dictionary

Cut v. World English Historical Dictionary Dictionary Biographies Literary Criticism Welcome Terms of Service ⧏ Previous Next ⧐ Contents Slice Contents Key Bibliographic Record Murray’s New English Dictionary. 1893, rev. 2025. Cut v. Forms: 3 cute, 4 kot, kuytte, 4–5 kut, kutt(e, kytt(e, kitt(e, 5 kette, cytte, 5–6 kyt, kit, 5–7 cutt(e, 6– cut. Pa. t. α. 3–5 cutt(e, 4– cut; also 4 kut, kit, citte, 4–5 kutte, kytte, kitte, 5 kyt; β. 4 kittide, kottede, 5 cutted, (pl.) kuttiden, 6 Sc. cuttit. Pa. pple. α. 4 kit, kitt(e, ikett, 4–5 kut, kutt(e, y-kyt(t, 4–6 cutte, 4–7 cutt, 5 y-kitt, ykette, 5–6 kyt, 5– cut; β. 4 kytted, kittid, 4–6 cuttid, 4–7 (9 dial.) cutted, 5 cuttyd, -ede, 6 Sc. cuttit. [Found in end of 13th c., and in common use since the 14th c., being the proper word for the action in question, for which OE. used sníðan, ceorfan. The phonology is doubtful; the early variants cutte, kitte, kette, with pa. pple. cut, kyt, kit, kett, are parallel to the early variants of SHUT, OE. scyttan, and point to *cyttan, kytten (from *cutian) as the original form, an earlier y (ü), having here, as in shut and other words, given later u (now v). The word is not recorded in OE. (nor in any WGer. dialect), and there is no corresponding verb in Romanic. Mod. Norwegian kutte = skjære to cut (chiefly used by sailors) is certainly adopted from English; but a verb kåta, (kutå) = skära, hugga to cut, is widely diffused in Swedish dialects, and app. an old word, from an OTeut. stem *kut-, *kot-, which is probably the source also of the Eng. vb., whatever the intermediate history of the latter.

1   A conjectured derivation of cut from Welsh cwta ‘short’ is in the opinion of Prof. Rhŷs quite untenable. Neither cwta nor any of its derivatives have any relation whatever to the use of a knife or other cutting instrument; while the South Wales cwt = cut, gash, e.g., in the hand, is a mere adoption of the Eng. sb.]

2   I.  To make incision in or into.

3   1.  trans. To penetrate with an edged instrument which severs the continuity of the substance; to wound or injure with a sharp-edged instrument; to make incision in; to gash, slash.

4 c. 1275.  Lay., 30581. He cutte [1205 nom] his owe þeh … þar of he makede breade [= roast].

5 c. 1330.  Arth. & Merl., 392. Ther was mani throte y-kitt.

6 1382.  Wyclif, Isa. xxxvii. 1. He kutte [1388 to rente] his clothis, and wrappid is with a sac.

7 c. 1430.  Pilgr. Lyf Manhode (1869), 122. At the laste he kitte his owen throte.

8 1502.  Arnolde, Chron. (1811), 165. Kyt it wyth a knyf and late it be opened.

9 1526.  Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W., 1531), 278. Cutte me, burne me, launce me.

10 1634.  Sir T. Herbert, Trav., 196. The ordinary tricke of cutting and slashing their skin.

11 1694.  Congreve, Double-Dealer, I. v. Cut a diamond with a diamond.

12 1779.  Gentl. Mag., XLIX. 466. No lives were lost in the riot, though one or two of the country people were cut.

13 1830.  Cooper, Dict. Surgery (ed. 6), 826. He [Cheselden] cut another part of the bladder.

14 1885.  Truth, 11 June, 921/1. A detective … cut the boy’s head open by knocking it against a lamp-post.

15 Mod.  Who has cut the table-cloth?

16   b.  Predicated also of the edged instrument or material (a knife, glass, etc.); also transf. of keen cold wind, frost, or the like.

17 1738.  Swift, Pol. Conversat., iii. 198. Sharp’s the Word with her; Diamonds cut Diamonds.

18   2.  absol. or intr. To make incision. With various preps. as in, through, etc., or adv. or adj. complement.

19 1596.  Shaks., Merch. V., IV. i. 280. For if the Iew do cut but deepe enough, Ile pay it instantly, with all my heart.

20 1664.  Evelyn, Kal. Hort. (1729), 190. Cut close to the Stem.

21 1830.  Cooper, Dict. Surgery (ed. 6), 825. Cheselden thought it unnecessary to cut on the groove of the staff.

22 1833.  A. Fonblanque, Eng. under 7 Administr. (1837), II. 319. [The late Parliament] excised the cancer, and it did not cut deep enough.

23 1861.  Mill, Utilit. (1863), 83. Any attempt on their part to cut finer.

24   b.  Said of the instrument; also transf. and fig.

25 c. 1400.  Lanfranc’s Cirurg., 32 (MS. B.). Cold matere streyneþ, drye matere kutteþ. Ibid., 127 (MS. A.). & þis schave schal kutte on þe side þat foldiþ ynward & it schal be blunt on þe oon side þat is outward.

26 a. 1633.  G. Herbert, Jacula Prudentum. The tongue is not steel, yet it cuts.

27 1605.  Hickeringill, Priest-cr., II. Pref. A iij b. Fame, like a two-edg’d Sword, does cut both ways.

28 1732.  Berkeley, Alciphr., VI. § 8. Edged tools are in general designed to cut.

29 1830.  Gen. P. Thompson, Exerc. (1842), I. 290. Whether the razor did or did not cut well.

30   c.  With complement (prep., adv. or adj.).

31 1713.  Addison, Cato, I. vi. Tormenting thought! it cuts into my soul.

32 1809.  Cobbett, Pol. Reg., 25 March, 421. The argument … cuts deeper against him than for him.

33 1888.  Rider Haggard, Col. Quaritch, I. i. 7. The bullet cut through his enemy.

34   d.  intr. in passive sense. To suffer incision, admit of being cut: see 13.

35   3.  To strike sharply with a whip, a thin stick or the like; to lash. Also said of the whip, etc. trans. and absol.

36 1607.  Dekker & Webster, Westw. Hoe, V. i. I cut hym ouer the thumbs thus.

37 1765.  Ann. Reg., 278. In rugged ways, the reins and steeds Alone the skilful driver heeds, Nor stays to cut behind.

38 1872.  Black, Adv. Phaeton, xix. 275. He cut at … the hedges with his stick.

39 1877.  H. Smart, Play or Pay, i. (1878), 19. Will anybody fetch me a pair of spurs and a whip that will cut?

40   4.  Fencing, etc. (intr.) To make a cut or slashing stroke: see CUT sb.2 2 b.

41 1833.  Regul. & Instr. Cavalry, I. 141. Recovering the sword ready to cut to the rear. Ibid., 142. Raise the hand prepared to cut ‘One.’

42 Mod.  One of the dragoons cut at him.

43   5.  fig. (trans.) To wound deeply the feelings of; to distress greatly. Now chiefly in phr. to cut to the heart. (Cf. cut up 59 h; CUTTING ppl. a.)

44 1582.  N. T. (Rhem.), Acts v. 33. When they had heard these things, it cut them to the hart.

45 c. 1680.  Beveridge, Serm. (1729), II. 4. Every word in it will cut them to the heart.

46 1688.  S. Penton, Guardian’s Instr., 75. Never disgrace the Child or upbraid him with his Follies before Strangers: this may cut him too much, and never be forgotten.

47 1782.  Miss Burney, Cecilia, III. viii. He says something so sorrowful that it cuts us to the soul!

48 1805.  Lamb, Lett. (1888), I. 220. I have been very much cut about it indeed.

49 1871.  Carlyle, in Mrs. Carlyle’s Lett., III. 243. Often enough had it cut me to the heart, to think what she was suffering.

50   † 6.  fig. To rebuke severely, to upbraid. Obs.

51 1737.  Whiston, Josephus’ Antiq., II. vi. § 8. Reubel also was large in cutting them upon this occasion.

52   II.  To make incision through.

53   7.  trans. To divide into two or more parts with a sharp-edged instrument; to sever. Used simply of cord, string, and the like, and of bread, wood, or other articles cut for use. Const. in two († atwo), asunder, etc.; in, into parts or pieces; also with adj. complement. Cf. cut up, cut down.

54 c. 1300.  K. Alis., 2709. Mony hed atwo y-kyt.

55 c. 1340.  Cursor M., 8875 (Fairf.). Wiþ ax he walde haue kut hit [the tree] þan. Ibid., 16554 (Trin.). & cut þis tre in two.

56 1387.  Trevisa, Higden (Rolls), I. 165. Sche … kutte þe hyde into a þong þat was ful long and ful smal.

57 c. 1430.  Freemasonry (1844), 735 (Mätz.). Kette thy bred al at thy mete Rigth as hyt may be ther yete.

58 c. 1430.  Two Cookery-bks., 21. Take clowes and kutte hem.

59 c. 1489.  Caxton, Sonnes of Aymon, i. 56. He cutted hym asonder.

60 a. 1541.  Wyatt, Poems (1861), 135. With his fatal knife the thread for to kit.

61 1653.  H. Cogan, trans. Pinto’s Trav., xix. 67. Cutting her cables … and sailing away with all the speed he could.

62 1855.  Macaulay, Hist. Eng., IV. 371. The Dutch way of cutting and eating asparagus.

63   b.  fig. To sever, divide (a connection, association, etc.).

64 1625.  Bacon, Ess., Friendship (Arb.), 173. It [Friendship] redoubleth Ioyes, and cutteth Griefes in Halfes.

65 1668.  Dryden, Evening’s Love, IV. iii. ’Tis well there was no love betwixt us; for they [your scissars] had been too dull to cut it.

66 1876.  E. Jenkins, Blot on Queen’s Head, 13. The inn-keeper … is a fool if he suddenly cuts the associations which endear it to all his customers and guests.

67   c.  To cut to (or in) pieces: (fig.) to rout in battle with great slaughter.

68 1632.  J. Hayward, trans. Biondi’s Eromena, 79. The foote were cut all to pieces.

69 1781.  Gibbon, Decl. & F., III. 235. [Alaric] surprised, and cut in pieces, a considerable body of Goths.

70 1838.  Thirlwall, Greece, II. 347. The Theban cavalry … suddenly fell upon them, cut to pieces six hundred, and drove them into the hills.

71   8.  spec. To carve (meat); also absol.

72 1601.  Shaks., Twel. N., I. iii. 130. And. Faith, I can cut a caper. To. And I can cut the Mutton too ’t.

73 1738.  Swift, Pol. Conversat., ii. 121. Don’t cut like a Mother-in-Law, but send me a large Slice.

74 1888.  Rider Haggard, Col. Quaritch, x. Ida allowed Mr. Quest to cut her some cold boiled beef.

75   b.  (slang or colloq.) To cut it too fat: to ‘come it strong,’ overdo a thing.

76 1836–9.  Dickens, Sk. Boz, 54. Gentlemen in alarming waistcoats and steel watch-guards … ‘cutting it uncommon fat.’

77 1854.  W. G. Curtis, Potiphar Papers, 131 (Bartlett). But to have a philosopher of the Sennaar school show you why you are so [uncomfortable], is cutting it rather too fat.

78   9.  To make a narrow opening through (a dyke, etc.), or through the bank of (a canal), so as to let the water escape.

79 1590.  [see CUTTING vbl. sb. 1].

80 1677.  Lond. Gaz., No. 1232/3. Report said the French … had cut the Canal. Ibid. (1710), 4582/1. Orders are … given for cutting the Scarpe at Bioche … in order to draw off the Water … into the adjacent Marshes.

81 1831.  Palmerston, in Sir H. Lytton Bulwer, Life, II. IX. 117, note. This extensive inundation was carried into effect by cutting the great sea-dykes.

82   b.  Mining. To intersect (a vein of ore).

83 1778.  W. Pryce, Min. Cornub., 319. Cut, to intersect a vein, branch, or lode by driving horizontally or sinking perpendicularly.

84 1881.  in Raymond, Mining Gloss.

85   c.  with through.

86 1883.  Manch. Guardian, 15 Oct., 5/7. To shorten the course of the river … by cutting through the neck of the low land opposite Greenwich.

87   10.  To break up, reduce or dissolve the viscidity of (a liquid, phlegm, etc.).

88 1578.  Lyte, Dodoens, II. lxxv. 248. The same … cutteth or severeth the grosse humors.

89 1657.  W. Coles, Adam in Eden, lxxv. 142. It [Hyssop] cutteth and breaketh tough Phlegme.

90 1698.  Petiver, in Phil. Trans., XX. 333. The Root … taken in Water corrects and cuts tough Phleagm.

91 1743.  Lond. & Country Brewer, IV. (ed. 2), 305. It will cut and cure a Butt of ropy Beer.

92   11.  To separate the leaves of (a book) by cutting through the folds of the sheets with a paper knife. (Properly to cut open.)

93 1786.  Mad. D’Arblay, Diary, 2 Aug. The Queen had given me a new collection of German books … to cut open for her.

94 1848.  Thackeray, Lett., 28 July. I thought I would begin to cut open a book I had bought.

95 Mod.  This book is not cut. I have cut a few leaves at the beginning.

96   12.  To divide with an edged instrument, as an ax, saw, sickle, etc. (a natural growth) for the purpose of taking the part detached; to reap (corn), mow (grass), hew (timber), etc.

97   This passes into branch III.

98 c. 1300.  Havelok, 942. Al that euere shulden he nytte, Al he drow, and al he citte.

99 c. 1400.  Maundev. (1839), xv. 168. Whan it is ripe … than men kytten hem.

100 1419.  in Surtees Misc. (1890), 14. Thay that has taken tham to ferme … sall kytte the herbage.

101 1512.  Act 4 Hen. VIII., c. 1 § 4. It [shall] be laufull … to cutte and to hew heth in any mannes grounde.

102 1611.  Bible, 2 Chron. ii. 8. Thy seruants can skill to cut timber in Lebanon.

103 1817.  W. Selwyn, Law Nisi Prius (ed. 4), II. 1218. Until it [the crop] was cut and carried away.

104   b.  The object may be unexpressed, or may be the ground on which the crop grows.

105 1789.  Trans. Soc. Encourag. Arts, II. 73. I cut one perch of ground … the produce of which weighed five hundred and one pounds.

106 1876.  Saunders, Lion in Path, i. The more distant meadows are cut.

107 1892.  Sporting & Dram. News, 14 May, 328/2. The mowers have commenced ‘cutting’ at the earliest streak of daylight.

108   13.  intr. (in pass. sense). To suffer incision, to get cut; to admit of being cut; to turn out of a specified quality on being cut.

109 1560.  Nice Wanton, in Hazl., Dodsley, II. 172. I will make your knave’s flesh cut.

110 1751.  Chambers, Cycl., Alabaster cuts very smooth and easy.

111 1642.  Fuller, Holy & Prof. St., III. xxiii. 218. None could come near to feel his estate; it might therefore cut fatter in his purse.

112 1834.  Medwin, Angler in Wales, II. 138. The trout … cut red.

113 1839.  De Quincey, Casuist. Roman Meals, Wks. 1863, III. 264. Who would think that a nonentity could cut into so many somethings?

114 1882.  Nares, Seamanship (ed. 6), 157. Chain … is not so liable to cut against rocks.

115 Mod.  The cloth does not cut to advantage.

116   b.  To yield when cut or shorn (as sheep).

117   With advb. complement passing into simple object.

118 1854.  Jrnl. R. Agric. Soc., XV. I. 228. The Hampshiredowns … cut a heavier fleece than the Southdowns. Ibid. (1858), XIX. I. 59. The half-breds cut less wool than the Shropshire Downs.

119   III.  To separate or detach with an edged tool.

120   14.  trans. To separate or remove by cutting; to sever from the main body; to lop off. With const. from or equivalent prep., or advb. complement, as adrift; also frequently cut away, cut off, cut out.

121   † To cut a purse: to steal it by cutting it from the girdle to which it was suspended.

122 a. 1300.  E. E. Psalter cxviii. 39. Cute mine up-braidinge [Wyclif 1382 Kut of my repref, 1388 Kitte awey my schenschip].

123 c. 1340.  Richard Rolle of Hampole, Prick of Conscience, 3715. Þe lymes þat er cutted fra þe body.

124 1393.  Gower, Conf., II. 347. Till he the mannes purs have kut.

125 1432–50.  trans. Higden (Rolls), III. 473. Thauȝhe Alexander kytte [absciderit] myne hede he may not sle my sawle.

126 c. 1450.  Mirour Saluacioun, 2603. All the braunches of the tree shuld be kitted.

127 1585.  in Ellis, Orig. Lett., I. 216, II. 297. There, was a schole howse sett upp to learne younge boyes to cutt purses.

128 1632.  J. Lee, Short Surv. Sweden, 84. Christopher, cut out of his mothers wombe, and shortly after, both he and his mother dyed.

129 1694.  Acc. Sev. Late Voy., II. (1711), 173. So cut the Fat from it by pieces.

130 1745.  P. Thomas, Jrnl. Anson’s Voy., 175. We were obliged, after much Fatigue, to cut the Raft adrift, which was lost.

131 1842.  Gen. P. Thompson, Exerc., VI. 413. Halfpenny-worths of bread cut off the loaf.

132   † b.  = Cut off (55 b). Obs.

133 1583.  Stocker, Hist. Civ. Warres Lowe C., I. 72 b. Hee made also a bridge ouer the Maze, that he myght … cut the enemie from victuals.

134 1789.  Triumphs of Fortitude, II. 63. We cannot be cut from the privileges … of friendship.

135   IV.  To pass through as in cutting.

136   15.  trans. To divide, separate, pierce, intersect, run into or through: expressing relative position, not motion. Also intr. with through, etc.

137 1432–50.  trans. Higden (Rolls), II. 47. And from that hit [Watling strete] kyttethe ouer [transcindit] Seuerne nye to Worcestre.

138 c. 1590.  Marlowe, Faust., Wks. (Rtldg.), 91/2. Just through the midst runs flowing Tiber’s stream With winding banks that cut it in two parts.

139 1665.  Sir T. Herbert, Trav. (1677), 31. Places very hot … in regard the Æquinoctial cuts them.

140 1811.  Pinkerton, Petral., I. 314. Serpentine mountains, which it [steatite] cuts through in small, perpendicular, or rake veins.

141 1869.  Whittier, Norembega, vii. Yon spire … That cuts the evening sky.

142 1885.  Law Rep., 14 Q. Bench Div. 919. The old part of the path which the line had cut across.

143   b.  Geom. Of a line (or surface): To pass through or across, to cross (a line or surface), intersect.

144 1570.  Billingsley, Euclid, I. xxiii. 33. The two pointes, where the circumference of the circle cutteth the lines.

145 1660.  Barrow, Euclid, III. Def. ii. The right line FG cuts the circle FED.

146 1746.  Tom Thumb’s Trav. Eng., 114. Most of the Streets … cut one another at Right Angles.

147 1862.  Todhunter, Elem. Euclid, I. xv. If two straight lines cut one another, the vertical, or opposite, angles shall be equal.

148   † 16.  To cross (a line): expressing motion.

149 1634.  Sir T. Herbert, Trav., 11. The last of May after a storme wee cut the Tropique of Capricorne.

150 1642.  Fuller, Holy & Prof. St., II. xxi. 136. Then cutting the Line, they view the face of that heaven which earth hideth from us.

151   b.  To come across, strike, hit upon (a path, etc.).

152 1892.  Field, 23 Jan., 119/1. At length we cut our spoor again, and hunted it along carefully and slowly.

153   17.  intr. To cross, to pass straight through or across; esp. cut over, cut across (adv. or prep.).

154 1551.  Acts Privy Council Eng., III. 320. The Marishall … woll passe by lande to Dovour, and from thens cutt over to Bulloigne.

155 1570–6.  Lambarde, Peramb. Kent (1826), 236. Thus have I walked about this whole Diocese: now therefore let me cutte over to Watlingstreete.

156 1581.  Marbeck, Bk. of Notes, 163. Except the ships cut and take course even justlie betweene both, they hardlie scape drowning.

157 1600.  Holland, Livy, XXVIII. ii. 669 b. Before that he cut over the streights of Gibraltar to Gades.

158 1610.  Guillim, Heraldry, III. ii. (1660), 107. Cutting through the Magellanike Straits … he encompassed the whole world.

159 1823.  New Monthly Mag., VIII. 500. A few of the most active cut across to the shallows.

160 1858.  R. S. Surtees, Ask Mamma, xiv. 47. They cut across the deer studded park.

161   18.  trans. To pass sharply through, cleave (the air, the water).

162 1576.  Fleming, Panopl. Epist., 423. Shippes … cut the waves as they are furthered with a merrie winde.

163 1596.  Spenser, Hymn, Heav. Love, 69. With nimble wings to cut the skies.

164 1696.  Tate & Brady, Ps. viii. 8. The Fish that cuts the Seas.

165 1709.  Watts, Hymn, ‘Awake, our Souls,’ v. Swift as an Eagle cuts the air.

166 1870.  Bryant, Iliad, I. II. 74. In his beaked galleys, swift to cut the sea.

167   b.  intr. with through.

168 1606.  Shaks., Tr. & Cr., I. iii. 40. Behold The strong ribb’d Barke through liquid Mountaines cut.

169 1694.  Acc. Sev. Late Voy., II. (1711), 33. This same noise the Ships make likewise when they cut through the Sea.

170 1728.  Pope, Dunc., I. 182. And pond’rous slugs cut swiftly thro’ the sky.

171 1848.  Thackeray, Lett., 28 July. The ship cutting through the water at fifteen miles an hour.

172   19.  slang or colloq. (intr.) To run away, make off, ‘be off.’ Also to cut it. (See also cut and run 40.) Originally with away, off.

173 1590.  Spenser, F. Q., II. vi. 5. It [a boat] cut away upon the yielding wave.

174 1591.  Sylvester, Du Bartas, I. i. Wks. (Grosart), 841 (D.). I fear to faint if (at the first) too fast I cut away, and make too hasty haste.

175 1664.  Cotton, Scarron., IV. Poet. Wks. (1765), 90. Put on the wings that used to bear ye, And cut away to Carthage quickly.

176 1844.  P. Parley’s Annual, V. 140. The door of her prison was opened, and the turnkey told her that she might ‘cut.’

177 1858.  Trollope, Dr. Thorne, ix. Now, my lady, do cut it, cut at once.

178 1882.  Macm. Mag., XLVI. 443/2. I looked out of the tail of my eye, to see what she was doing, but she’d cut.

179   b.  Hence, To move sharply, to run rapidly. With various advbs. and preps.

180 1857.  Hughes, Tom Brown, II. iii. We all cut up-stairs after the Doctor.

181 1873.  Black, Pr. Thule, xiv. 219. And now the carriage cut round the corner.

182 1878.  ‘Stonehenge,’ Brit. Sports, I. I. vii. § 10. 109. The rabbits … cut in and out of the rides or runs.

183   V.  To shorten or reduce by cutting.

184   20.  trans. To shorten or reduce by cutting off a portion; to trim, clip, shear; to prune.

185 a. 1300.  Cursor M., 7240 (Gött.). Quilis he slep scho cutt his her.

186 c. 1385.  Chaucer, L. G. W., 973, Dido. Hire clothis cutte were un-to the kne.

187 c. 1420.  Pallad. on Husb., I. 127. To kytte a vyne is thinges iij to attende.

188 c. 1440.  Promp. Parv., 111. Cutte vynes, puto.

189 1665–72.  Wood, Life (Oxf. Hist. Soc.), II. 69. To my barber for cutting my haire, 6d.

190 1878.  Morley, Diderot, I. 136. Diderot and his colleagues are cutting their wings for a flight to posterity.

191   21.  fig. To curtail, abridge, shorten, reduce; to shorten (a play, etc.) by omitting portions; = cut short, cut down.

192 1413.  Lydg., Pilgr. Sowle, I. xliii. (1859), 49. Glosynge, cuttynge, kouerynge, and cloutynge the lawe of Crystes gospel.

193 1585.  Jas. I., Ess. Poesie (Arb.), 55. Maist kyndis of versis quhilks are not cuttit or brokin.

194 1865.  Pall Mall Gaz., 24 July, 11/1. In ‘cutting’ an opera it is not to be supposed that any two persons will agree as to what ought to be left out.

195 1888.  Standard, 14 May. The market has begun to cut rates again.

196   22.  Dyeing. To reduce (a color) to a softer shade.

197 1862.  O’Neill, Dict. Calico Printing, 149/2. The colours are cut or reduced by passing the pieces in warm water containing very acid oxymuriate of tin.

198   VI.  To shape, fashion, form or make by cutting.

199   23.  To make or form by cutting (e.g., a statue, engraving, seal, jewel, etc.), to sculpture or carve (a statue or image), to engrave (a plate, seal, etc.), to fashion (a stone or jewel), to shape (garments, utensils, etc.).

200 15[?].  Ballad on Money, in Halliwell, Nugæ Poeticæ, 48.        Craftysmen that be in every cyté,   They worke and never blynne; Sum cutte, sum shave, sume knoke, sum grave,   Only money to wynne.

201 1596.  Shaks., Merch. V., I. i. 84. Why should a man … Sit like his Grandsire, cut in Alablaster?

202 1623.  B. Jonson, On Shaks. Portrait, in 1st Folio. This Figure, that thou here seest put, It was for gentle Shakespeare cut.

203 1634.  Sir T. Herbert, Trav., 146. Their Boots are well sewed, but ill cut.

204 1662.  Evelyn, Chalcogr., 69. We have seen some few things cut in Wood by … Hans Holbein the Dane.

205 1709.  Steele, Tatler, No. 142, ¶ 5. His Seals are … exquisitely well cut. Ibid., No. 166, ¶ 2. He knows perfectly well when a Coat is well cut.

206 1874.  Boutell, Arms & Arm., x. 196. It was escalloped, or cut into some rich open-work pattern.

207 1887.  Westm. Rev., June, 340. Pointed piles, evidently cut by a metal instrument.

208   † b.  fig. To make ready, prepare, plan; = cut out 56 l. Obs.

209 c. 1645.  Howell, Lett. Cut him work to do.

210   c.  pa. pple. Formed, fashioned, shaped (as if by cutting).

211 c. 1511.  1st Eng. Bk. Amer. (Arb.), Introd. 32/2. His wingis kyt like a rasour.

212 1850.  L. Hunt, Autobiog., II. x. 21. His skull was sharply cut and fine.

213 1883.  S. C. Hall, Retrospect, II. 218. His features were finely cut [etc.].

214   24.  To hollow out, excavate (a hole, channel, canal, road, etc.).

215 1634.  Sir T. Herbert, Trav., 87. A streame cut through the Coronian Mountaine. Ibid. (1665) (1677), 36. From Suez … where several attempts have been made to cut such a Sluice or Channel as should give Ships a navigable and free passage from the Mediterranean thither.

216 1682.  Lithgow, Trav., X. 479. Cutting in the middle Circle a devalling Hole.

217 1772.  T. Simpson, Vermin-Killer, 2. Their holes … made round as if cut with an auger.

218 1798.  in Spirit Pub. Jrnls. (1799), II. 43. The canal which is now cutting across the Isthmus of Suez.

219 1878.  Markham, Gt. Frozen Sea, xxii. (1880), 278. The men being employed in cutting a road through the hummocks.

220 1887.  Spectator, 28 May, 723/2. We do not see how the canals are to be cut.

221   b.  To cut one’s way, a passage: to advance by cutting through obstructions.

222 1599.  Shaks., Hen. V., II. ii. 16. The powres we beare with vs Will cut their passage through the force of France.

223 1665.  Sir T. Herbert, Trav. (1677), 34. The Ships cut their way slowly.

224 1848.  Macaulay, Hist. Eng., I. 600. He cut his way gallantly through them, and came off safe.

225   25.  To perform or execute (an action, gesture or display of a grotesque, striking or notable kind): chiefly in certain established phrases, as to cut a CAPER, a DASH, a FIGURE, a JOKE, a VOLUNTARY, for which see these substantives. Also, To cut an antic, a curvet, a flourish; to cut faces, to make grimaces, distort the features.

226 1601.  [see CAPER sb.2 1 b].

227 1664.  Cotton, Scarron., IV. (1807), 68. Wilt thou cut faces evermore For husband dead as nail in door?

228 1688.  Shadwell, Sqr. Alsatia, I. i. He shall cut a sham or banter with the best wit or poet of ’em all.

229 1768–74.  Tucker, Lt. Nat. (1852), I. 431. Like the twitchings we sometimes feel in our limbs, or habits men get of cutting faces.

230 1811.  W. Irving, Life & Lett. (1864), I. xvii. 262. I cut one of my best opera flourishes. Ibid. (1835), Tour Prairies, xxii. Two of us … saw a fellow … cutting queer antics.

231 1830.  Fraser’s Mag., I. 457. [They] cut a curvet in the air.

232   VII.  Special senses, elliptical, contextual or technical.

233   26.  Surg. a. To castrate.

234 1465.  Mann. & Househ. Exp., 313. Paid for xvij. kokerelles to make capons of … Item, for the kyttynge of them.

235 1577.  B. Googe, Heresbach’s Husb., III. (1586), 150 b. The Bore Pigges they cutte when they were sixe monethes olde.

236 a. 1643.  W. Cartwright, Ordinary, I. ii. The great Turk … did command I should be forthwith cut.

237 1865.  Jrnl. R. Agric. Soc., Ser. II. V. II. 253. The lamb is stronger for being cut late.

238   b.  To make an incision in the bladder for extraction of stone; also absol. to perform lithotomy.

239 1566.  Securis, Detection, A iij. I will not cut those that haue the stone.

240 1603.  Florio, Montaigne (1632), 433. A Gentleman in Paris was not long since cut of the stone.

241 1615.  Crooke, Body of Man, Pref. That they should not cut any man for the Stone.

242 1782.  H. Watson, in Med. Commun., I. 92. The patients cut in our hospitals.

243 1830.  Cooper, Dict. Surgery (ed. 6), 825. Lithotomy, Mr. Cheselden never resumed his second manner of cutting.

244   † c.  To circumcise. Obs. rare.

245 1634.  Sir T. Herbert, Trav. (1638), 236. Such an apostat rascall … is cut and marked for a Mahomitan.

246   27.  Of horses: intr. To strike or bruise the inside of the fetlock with the shoe or hoof of the opposite foot.

247 1660.  Fisher, Rusticks Alarm, Wks. (1679), 139. See … how he … interferes, and cuts one Leg against another, and is not sensible of it.

248 1675.  Lond. Gaz., No. 1028/4. The other a bright bay … trots and gallops only, cuts a little behind.

249 1727–51.  Chambers, Cycl., Cutting, in the manage, is when the horse’s feet interfere.

250 1865.  Youatt, Horse, xvi. (1872), 380. Some horses will cut only when they are fatigued or lame and old; many colts will cut before they arrive at their full strength.

251   28.  Naut. (absol.) To cut the cable (in order to get quickly under way). See also cut and run 40.

252 1707.  Lond. Gaz., No. 4378/3. The Enemy had escaped, having … cut and tow’d out.

253 1743.  C. Knowles, in Naval Chron. (1799), I. 107. I made the signal to cut.

254 1780.  Ld. Rodney, Lett., in New Ann. Reg., 42. Ready at a moment’s warning to cut or slip in order to pursue or engage the enemy.

255   29.  Card-playing. (trans. and intr.) To divide (a pack of cards); spec. to do so at random into two or more parts in order to determine the deal, prevent cheating in dealing, etc.

256 1532.  Dice Play (Percy Soc.), 33. At trump … cutting at the neck is a great vantage, so is cutting by a bum card (finely) under & over.

257 c. 1592.  Marlowe, Massacre Paris, I. ii. Thou hast all the cards within thy hands, To shuffle or cut.

258 1654.  R. Whitlock, Ζωοτομια, 425. Shufling and cutting ones selfe a Fortune in this scambling World.

259 1674.  Cotton, Compl. Gamester, in Singer, Hist. Cards, 342. Having shuffled the cards, the adversary cuts them.

260 1750.  Hoyle, Whist (ed. 10), 159. [Rule] xv. You are to cut two Cards at the least.

261 1793.  Sporting Mag., I. 27. The person who cuts the lowest, is entitled to the deal.

262 1824.  Hist. Gambling, 58. Dick stated that he could cut any card he chose at any time.

263 1878.  H. H. Gibbs, Ombre, 19. His left-hand player then cuts to him, lifting, and also leaving, at the least three cards.

264   30.  Dancing. (intr.) To spring from the ground, and, while in the air, to twiddle the feet one in front of the other alternately with great rapidity.

265 1603.  Florio, Montaigne, 228 (T.). Dances, wherein are divers changes, cuttings, turnings, and agitations of the body.

266 1760.  C. Johnston, Chrysal (1822), I. 232. One of them had shewn greater agility, and cut higher, than any one they had ever seen before.

267 1836–9.  Dickens, Sk. Boz. Out went the boots, first on one side then on the other, then cutting, then shuffling. Ibid. (1844), Christm. Carol (1885), 26. Fezziwig ‘cut’—cut so deftly, that he appeared to wink with his legs, and came upon his feet again without a stagger.

268   31.  In various games: a. Cricket. trans. and intr. To hit a length ball, a little wide of the off stump, with a bat held quite, or nearly, horizontal, by which the ball is driven to the left side of point. b. Lawn Tennis. trans. and intr. To strike the ball sharply with the racket held at an angle, or with a downward motion, so as to make it revolve, by which it tends to shoot with a very slight rise on striking the ground. c. Croquet. trans. To drive (a ball) away obliquely by a stroke from another ball.

269 [1840.  Nyren, Cricketer’s Guide, 21. Beldham would cut at such a ball with a horizontal bat.]

270 1857.  Hughes, Tom Brown, II. viii. Johnson … bowls a ball almost wide to the off; the batter steps out and cuts it beautifully to where cover-point is standing very deep.

271 1888.  Steele & Littleton, Cricket (Badm. Libr.), ii. 62. We have never seen Shrewsbury … cut in any other way.

272   32.  Painting. a. trans. (See quot. 1727.) b. intr. Of a color: To show itself obtrusively, stand out strongly.

273 1727–51.  Chambers, Cycl., Cutting, in painting, the laying one strong lively colour over another, without any shade or softening.—The cutting of colours has always a disagreeable effect.

274 c. 1816.  Fuseli, Lect. Art, viii. (1848), 508. Those that cut and come forward, first,—and those which more or less partake of the surrounding medium, in various degrees of distance.

275   33.  colloq. (trans.) To break off acquaintance or connection with (a person); also (as a single act) to affect not to see or know (a person) on meeting or passing him. Often emphasized by dead.

276 1634.  S. R[owley], Noble Soldier, II. i. Why shud a Souldier (being the worlds right arme) Be cut thus by the left? (a Courtier?)

277 1786.  G. Colman, in Europ. Mag., IX. 370. Some bow, some nod, some cut him.

278 1796.  Jane Austen, Sense & Sens., xliv. (D.). He had cut me ever since my marriage.

279 1822.  Hazlitt, Table-t., II. viii. 188. To cut an acquaintance … has hardly yet escaped out of the limits of slang phraseology.

280 1826.  Disraeli, Viv. Grey, I. iv. Any fellow voluntarily conversing with an usher was to be cut dead by the whole school.

281 1887.  F. S. Russell, Earl of Peterborough, II. vii. 229–30. He met Bolingbroke … and … cut the ex-Minister dead.

282   † b.  intr. To break off acquaintance or connection with. Obs.

283 1782.  in Mad. D’Arblay, Early Diary (1889), II. 305. Mr. Poor and the Fits’ have cut, which I regret, but poor man nobody likes him.

284 1808.  Southey, Lett. (1856), II. 110. For more than a year Scott has cut with the ‘Edinburgh Review.’

285 1825.  New Monthly Mag., XIV. 180. I’ve cut dead with Lucy Drummond, so you may be perfectly easy in that affair.

286   c.  trans. To renounce, give up, absent oneself from, avoid (a thing).

287 1791.  ‘G. Gambado,’ Ann. Horsem., x. (1809), 109. I shall cut riding entirely.

288 c. 1814.  in C. Whibley, In Cap & Gown (1890), 104. Bid him not set me an imposition For cutting his lectures this morning at eight.

289 1835.  E. Caswall, Art of Pluck (Oxford ed. 6), 37. He that cutteth chapel often.

290 1861.  Hughes, Tom Brown at Oxf., vii. (1889), 59. I would cut the whole concern to-morrow.

291   † 34.  Irish Hist. (trans.) To levy (a tax, etc.). Also absol. [Ir. gearraim sraid: cf. F. tailler.]

292 1596.  Spenser, State Irel., 87. Cutting upon every portion of land a reasonable rent.

293 1610.  Davies, 2nd Let. Earl Salisb. (1787), 280. He … had power to cut upon all the inhabitants, high, or low, as pleased him. Ibid. (1612), Why Ireland, etc. 126. I may cut the erick upon the country.

294   † 35.  Thieves’ cant. To speak, talk, say. (trans. and intr.) Obs.

295 c. 1500.  Maid Emlyn, in Anc. Poet. Tracts (Percy Soc.), 17. Than wolde she mete, With her lemman swete, And cutte with hym.

296 1567.  Harman, Caveat, 84. To cutte bene whydds, to speake or geue good wordes…. To cutte, to saye.

297 1725.  in New Cant. Dict., To Cut, to Speak.

298 1815.  Scott, Guy M., xxviii. Meg … has some queer ways, and often cuts queer words.

299   † 36.  intr. ? To shape one’s discourse, trim, try not to commit oneself. Obs.

300 1672–3.  Marvell, Reh. Transp., I. 114. He cuts indeed and faulters in this discourse, which is no good sign.

301 1710.  E. Ward, Brit. Hud., 74. Some Crafty Zealots cut and wheadl’d, And lying vow’d they never meddl’d.

302   VIII.  Phrases.

303   37.  To cut a feather: † a. To make fine distinctions, ‘split hairs.’ Obs.

304 a. 1633.  Austin, Medit. (1635), 69. Nor seeke … with nice distinctions, to cut a Feather [with the Schoolemen].

305 1684.  T. Goddard, Plato’s Demon, 317. Men who … have not the skill to cut a feather.

306   b.  Naut. Of a ship: To make the water foam before her.

307 1627.  Capt. Smith, Seaman’s Gram., ii. 10. If the Bow be too broad, she will seldome … cut a feather, that is, to make a fome before her.

308 1867.  Smyth, Sailor’s Word-bk., To cut a Feather, when a ship has so sharp a bow that she makes the spray feather in cleaving it.

309   38.  To cut a tooth, one’s teeth: to have them appear through the gums; also fig. to become knowing, attain to discretion; so cut one’s eye-teeth.

310 1677.  Lady Hatton, in Hatton Corr. (1878), 148. Poor little Susana is very ill about her teeth. I hope in God they will not be long before they be cut.

311 1694.  Congreve, Double-Dealer, II. iv. Like a child that was cutting his teeth.

312 1731.  Arbuthnot, Aliments (1735), 414 (J.). When the Teeth is ready to cut.

313 1860.  Reade, Cloister & H., xxx. He and I were born the same year, but he cut his teeth long before me.

314 1869.  Princess Alice, Mem. (1884), 220. Baby … is now cutting his fifth tooth, which is all but through.

315   39.  To cut and carve: see CARVE v. 11. To cut and contrive: to practise economy so as to keep one’s expenses within one’s means. To cut and dry: to render cut and dried: see CUT ppl. a.

316 1854.  Dickens, Hard Times, I. ii. A mighty man at cutting and drying.

317 1876.  Geo. Eliot, Dan. Der., I. iii. I am obliged to cut and contrive.

318 1883.  H. Drummond, Nat. Law in Spir. W. (ed. 8), 360. You cannot cut and dry truth.

319 1888.  J. Payn, Myst. Mirbridge, xiv. Cutting and contriving to make both ends meet.

320   40.  To cut and run (Naut.): see quot. 1794; (slang or colloq.) to make off promptly, hurry off.

321 1794.  Rigging & Seamanship, II. 248*. To Cut and run, to cut the cable and make sail instantly, without waiting to weigh anchor.

322 1821.  Byron, Lett. to Murray, 7 Feb. Greek and Turkish craft … were obliged to ‘cut and run’ before the wind.

323 1861.  Dickens, Gt. Expect., v. I’d give a shilling if they had cut and run.

324   41.  To cut loose: a. trans. To loosen or set free by cutting that which fastens or confines; b. intr. To sever oneself, free oneself, escape.

325 1828.  Scott, Tales Grandfather, Ser. I. xxv. Dacre’s quarters were attacked, and his horses all cut loose.

326 1852.  Mrs. Stowe, Uncle Tom’s C., I. vii. 41. In leaving the only home she had ever known, and cutting loose from the protection of a friend whom she loved and revered.

327 1889.  Amelia E. Barr, Feet of Clay, xv. 308. I will cut loose from every entanglement.

328   † To cut scores: to settle accounts (with): see SCORES. Obs.

329   42.  To cut short: (trans.) a. to shorten by cutting off a part or parts; to abridge, curtail. lit. and fig. (Sometimes to cut shorter.)

330 1545.  Brinklow, Compl., 21. Cut shorter your processe.

331 1548.  Hall, Chron., 202. He was taken and … cut shorter by the hedde.

332 1611.  Bible, 2 Kings x. 32. In those dayes the Lord began to cut Israel short [margin, Hebr. to cut off the ends].

333 1664.  H. More, Apol., 507. I must … cut my skirts as short as I can, that they sit not upon them.

334 1781.  Mad. D’Arblay, Diary, 25 Aug. That gentleman … cut the matter very short, and would not talk upon it at all.

335 1868.  Freeman, Norm. Conq. (1876), II. viii. 293. William cuts the whole story very short.

336 1875.  Jowett, Plato (ed. 2), I. 149. I will ask you to cut your answers shorter.

337   b.  To curtail, abridge or restrict (any one) in his privileges, means, etc.

338 1586.  A. Day, Eng. Secretary, II. (1625), 29. Your Lordships … cut me yet thirtie pound shorter.

339 1653.  Walton, Angler, 156. Because I cut you short in that, I will commute for it, by telling you that that was told me for a secret.

340 1672.  H. More, Brief Reply, 302. You … unjustly take upon you to cut us short of Salvation.

341 1755.  Johnson, To cut short, to abridge: as, the soldiers were cut short of their pay.

342 1799.  Nelson, in Nicolas, Disp., VII. p. cxciii. I am cut short enough by having no other emolument.

343   c.  To bring to a sudden end, break off, put a stop to abruptly. d. To interrupt abruptly; to stop, ‘pull up’ (a speaker).

344 1593.  Shaks., 2 Hen. VI., III. i. 81. The welfare of vs all Hangs on the cutting short that fraudfull man.

345 1611.  Bible, Rom. ix. 28. He will finish the worke, and cut it short in righteousnesse.

346 1697.  Dryden, Virg. Æneid, X. 842 (J.).        Thus much he spoke, and more he wou’d have said, But the stern Heroe turn’d aside his Head, And cut him short.

347 1713.  Berkeley, Hylas & Phil., I. Wks. 1871, I. 294. It would probably have cut short your discourse.

348 1855.  Macaulay, Hist. Eng., IV. 232. But the Admiral … cut him short. ‘I do not wish to hear anything on that subject.’

349 1873.  Black, Pr. Thule, xiv. 222. Her speculations … were cut short by the entrance of her husband.

350   e.  intr. To stop short, be brief.

351 1691.  trans. Emilianne’s Obs. Journ. Naples, 184. I was oblig’d to cut short, and tell her [etc.].

352 1726.  J. M., trans. Trag. Hist. Chev. de Vaudray, 116. To cut short … we broke up.

353   43.  To cut one’s stick (slang): to take one’s departure, be off, go. Also to cut one’s lucky.

354 1825.  Blackw. Mag., XVIII. 42/1. He … has cut his stick mayhap until we sail.

355 1840.  Dickens, Old C. Shop, xl. I’m afraid I must cut my stick.

356 1844.  W. H. Maxwell, Sports & Adv. Scotl., iii. (1853), 47. I am glad you ‘cut your lucky.’

357   44.  To cut the coat according to the cloth: to adapt oneself to circumstances, keep within the limits of one’s means (see CLOTH sb. 10). So also † to cut one’s cloth according to one’s calling.

358 1562.  J. Heywood, Prov. & Epigr. (1867), 16. I shall Cut my cote after my cloth.

359 1597.  Hooker, Eccl. Pol., V. lxxviii. § 13. To teach them how they should cut their coats.

360 1622.  Fletcher, Beggar’s Bush, IV. i. Keep yourself right and even cut your cloth, sir, According to your calling.

361 1867.  Homeward Mail, 16 Nov., 953/2. Times are changed, and … we must, to use the homely metaphor, ‘cut our coat according to our cloth.’

362   † 45.  To cut sail, one’s sail: see quot. 1692. ? Obs.

363 1569.  Hawkins’ 2nd Voy. W. Ind., in Arber, Garner, V. 88. At which departing, in cutting of the foresail, a marvellous misfortune happened to one of the Officers.

364 1582.  N. Lichefield, trans. Castanheda’s Discov. E. Ind., 71 a. The whole Fleete, hauing wayed, did then begin to cut and spread their sayles with a great pleasure.

365 1692.  in Capt. Smith’s Seaman’s Gram., I. xvi. 76. Cut the Sail, that is unfurl it, and let it fall down.

366 1721.  in Bailey.

367   46.  To cut the throat of: (fig.) to destroy, ruin, injure irretrievably.

368 1637.  R. Humphrey, trans. St. Ambrose, Pref. This cuts the throat of that misconceived opinion.

369 1692.  Bp. of Ely, Asst. Touchstone, 10–1. This, which cuts the Throat of the Roman Cause.

370 1824.  Leicester Stanhope, Greece in 1824, 15. Generals … who cut their own throats by word of command.

371 1867.  Froude, Short Stud. (ed. 2), 114. They … believed that Elizabeth was cutting her own throat.

372   47.  To cut it (too) fat: see 8 b.

373   48.  To cut to pieces: see 7 c.

374   49.  To cut the comb of: to lower the pride of: see COMB. To cut the gold (Archery): see GOLD. To cut the grass under, or the ground from under, a person’s feet: see GRASS, GROUND. To cut the hair: to split hairs: see HAIR. To cut the knot: see KNOT. To cut the ROUND, the VOLT, etc.

375   IX.  In comb. with adverbs.

376   50.  Cut about. a. trans. To damage or disfigure by random cutting and chipping of the surface. Chiefly pass.

377 1874.  Dasent, Half a Life, II. 119. The most precious monuments of the Abbey … how cut about and mutilated they are!

378   b.  intr. To run or dart about: see 19 b.

379   Cut adrift: see 14. Cut asunder: see 7.

380   51.  Cut away.

381   a.  trans. To cut so as to take or clear away, to remove by cutting.

382 c. 1320.  Seuyn Sag., 604 (W.). And his bowes awai i-kett.

383 c. 1440.  Promp. Parv., 111. Cuttyyn’ a-way, abscindo, amputo.

384 c. 1450.  St. Cuthbert (Surtees), 4229. Some bad þe bolnyng cutt away.

385 1688.  R. Holme, Armoury, III. 399/2. Used to draw up the Cataract off the sight of the eye while it is cuting away.

386 1886.  Besant, Childr. Gibeon, 107. I will cut away the dead leaves.

387   † b.  fig. To take away, remove forcibly; to stop the supply of, cut off. Obs.

388 1382.  Wyclif, 2 Cor. xi. 12. I kitte awey the occasioun of hem.

389 c. 1450.  trans. De Imitatione, I. xx. He þat wolde kutte awey al maner of veyne besines.

390 1563.  N. Winȝet, Cert. Tractates, i. Wks. 1888, I. 10. All errour and abuse being cuttit away.

391 1707.  Freind, Peterborow’s Cond. Sp., 251. Yesterday they cut away the Water of a Mill in this Town.

392   c.  intr. To go on cutting continuously or without cessation: see AWAY 7.

393   52.  Cut back.

394   a.  trans. To prune by cutting off the shoots close back to the main stem or stock.

395 1871.  Shirley Hibberd, Amateur’s Fl. Garden, 210. Early in March cut back all the shoots.

396   b.  To plow the second time, across or at right angles to the first furrow; = CROSS-PLOUGH.

397 1858.  Jrnl. R. Agric. Soc., XIX. I. 65. The ordinary method in this district was for the farmer in the autumn to plough down the field…; in the spring he had it cut back.

398   53.  Cut down.

399   a.  trans. To cut so as to bring or throw down; cause to fall by cutting; to fell.

400 1382.  Wyclif, Matt. iii. 10. Euery tree … shal be kitt [1388 kit] doun.

401 a. 1400–50.  Alexander, 2850. To cutte down … Bowis of buskis and of braunches.

402 1534.  Tindale, Matt. xxi. 8. Other cut doune braunches from the trees.

403 1611.  Bible, Deut. vii. 5. Ye shall destroy their altars, and breake downe their images, and cut downe their groues, and burne their grauen images with fire.

404 1784.  Gentl. Mag., LIV. II. 643. A hill contiguous is cutting down.

405   b.  To let fall or take down (the body of one who has been hanged) by cutting the rope.

406 1547.  Boorde, Introd. Knowl., xxxii. (1870), 203. Whosoeuer that is hanged by-yonde see, shall neuer be cutte nor pulled downe.

407 1563–87.  Foxe, A. & M. (1631), III. xii. App. 1023/2. He being hanged till he was halfe dead, was cut downe and stripped.

408 1883.  Gardiner, Hist. Eng. 1603–42, I. vii. 282. The King having given orders that he should not be cut down until he was dead.

409   c.  To lay low or kill with the sword or the like.

410 1821.  Byron, Sardan., II. i. 166. Soldiers, hew down the rebel!… Cut him down.

411 1874.  Green, Short Hist., iii. 154. The Welsh … were cut ruthlessly down in the cornfields.

412   † d.  fig. To put a stop to. Obs. rare.

413 1577.  Northbrooke, Dicing (1843). 177. That the magistrates and rulers may … cut downe this wicked vice that it may be no more vsed.

414   e.  To take the lead of decisively in a race or run; to surpass, get the better of.

415 1713.  Addison, Trial Count Tariff, 2 (J.). So great is his natural Eloquence, that he cuts down the finest Orator, and destroys the best-contrived rgument.

416 1865.  Surtees, Facey Romford’s Hounds, 156. (Illustration) Captain Spurrier ‘cut down’ by Romford.

417   f.  Naut. (See quot. 1769.)

418 1769.  Falconer, Dict. Marine, Raser un vaisseau, to cut down a ship, or take off part of her upper-works, as the poop, quarter-deck, or fore-castle, in order to lighten her, when she becomes weak.

419 1805.  Naval Chron., XIII. 174. The … Indiaman … had been cut down.

420   g.  To reduce, abridge, retrench, curtail, esp. a speech, expenses, wages.

421 1857.  Lever, Fortunes of Glencore, I. viii. 109. A system of … cutting down every one’s demand to the measure of their own pockets.

422 1885.  Dunckley, in Manch. Weekly Times, 6 June, 5/5. Only one London newspaper attempts to give the speeches in full, the rest cut them down unmercifully.

423 1886.  Baring-Gould, Court Royal, I. ix. 144. Expenses ought to be cut down in every way at once.

424   54.  Cut in.

425   a.  trans. To carve or engrave in intaglio.

426 1883.  Act 36 & 37 Vict., c. 85 § 3. Her official number … shall be cut in on her mainbeam.

427   b.  Whale-fishery. To cut up (a whale) so as to remove the blubber.

428 1839.  T. Beale, Nat. Hist. Sperm Whale, 185. As soon as possible after the whale has been killed, it is brought alongside the ship to be cut in, by means of instruments which are called ‘spades.’

429 1840.  F. D. Bennett, Whaling Voy., II. 208. The next proceeding of the whaler is to ‘cut in,’ or remove the blubber. Ibid., 210. From three to five hours are required to ‘cut in’ an ordinary school whale.

430   c.  intr. To penetrate or enter sharply or abruptly; esp. so as to make a way for oneself or occupy a position between others.

431 1612.  Drayton, Poly-olb., i. 3. Neptune cutting in, a cantle forth doth take.

432 1630.  R. Johnson’s Kingd. & Commw., 117. A huge arme of the Sea, which cutting in betweene the Land by the West, watreth Cornwall on the right hand, and Wales on the left.

433 1799.  in Owen, Wellesley’s Desp., II. 114. The enemy having cut in between them and Seedasere.

434 1856.  Whyte-Melville, Kate Cov., iii. After much ‘cutting in,’ and shaving of wheels and lashing of horses.

435   d.  To interpose or interrupt abruptly in conversation or the like; to strike in. So cut into for cut in to.

436 1830.  Galt, Lawrie T., V. viii. (1869), 228. When Mr. Van Haarlem had finished his compliments, then Mr. Breugle cut in.

437 1859.  Farrar, Julian Home, vi. ‘I say, Home,’ cut in Kennedy hastily, ‘shall I go?’

438 1890.  R. F. D. Palgrave, O. Cromwell, xiii. 288. The Royalists had only to wait, ready to cut in when the Levellers had done the work.

439 1890.  R. Kipling, Phantom ’Rickshaw, etc. (ed. 3), 74. It will save you cutting into my talk.

440   e.  Card-playing. To join in a game (of whist) by taking the place of a player cutting out q.v.

441 1760.  C. Johnston, Chrysal (1822), I. 277. When the rubber was finished, my mistress was asked to cut in.

442 1763.  Brit. Mag., IV. 542/1. Instead of cutting in to a party of whist, they play the rubbers by rotation.

443 1870.  Hardy & Ware, Mod. Hoyle, 6. Players cutting in take the chairs of players cutting out.

444   55.  Cut off.

445   a.  trans. To cut so as to take off; to detach by cutting (something material).

446   To cut off a corner: see CORNER sb.1 2 b.

447 c. 1380.  Wyclif, Sel. Wks., I. 401. Ȝif þi hond or þi foot sclaundir þee, kitte it of, and caste it fro þee.

448 1526.  Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W., 1531), 177 b. Though thou cut of my heed.

449 1634.  Sir T. Herbert, Trav., 119. To haue their noses and eares cut off.

450 1664.  Evelyn, Kal. Hort. (1729), 196. Cutting off the dead Wood.

451 1864.  Tennyson, Enoch Arden, 895. This hair is his: she cut it off and gave it.

452   b.  To remove, take away, sever, strike off (something immaterial).

453 1581.  J. Bell, Haddon’s Answ. Osor., 98 b. When as I doe cut of so much of myne owne right unto you.

454 1601.  Shaks., Jul. C., III. i. 101. Why he that cuts off twenty yeares of life, Cuts off so many yeares of fearing death.

455 1697.  Dryden, Virgil, Ded. (J.). No Vowel can be cut off before another, when we cannot sink the Pronunciation of it.

456 1792.  Coke & Moore, Life J. Wesley, I. (ed. 2), 4. Determined … at a single blow to cut off from the established Church every Minister of honesty and conscience.

457   c.  To bring to an end suddenly or abruptly; to put a stop to; to break off, cut short. To cut off an entail: see ENTAIL sb.2 1.

458 1576.  Fleming, Panopl. Epist., 17. I had rather cut off all old acquaintance with him.

459 1611.  Bible, Lam. iii. 53. They haue cut off my life in the dungeon.

460 1635.  Stafford, Femall Glory (1860), 51. Obedience calls upon me to cut off … this digression.

461 1647.  W. Browne, trans. Polexander, II. 73. Zabaim, cutting him off, bade him answer succinctly.

462 1865.  Mrs. Riddell, World in Church, xxvii. 303. You wish to cut off the entail.

463 1878.  Bosw. Smith, Carthage, 285. [These things] cut off all hopes of a reconciliation.

464   d.  To put to death (suddenly or prematurely), to bring to an untimely end.

465 c. 1565.  Lindesay (Pitscottie), Cron. Scot. (1728), 16. If the Earl of Douglas … had been cutted off suddenly.

466 1611.  Bible, 1 Sam. xx. 15. When the Lord hath cut off the enemies of Dauid.

467 1712.  Addison, Spect., No. 483, ¶ 2. Why such an one was cut off in the flower of his youth.

468 1888.  Burgon, Lives 12 Gd. Men, II. x. 239. His father was cut off at the age of twenty-five.

469   † e.  To shorten, cut short. Obs. rare.

470 1607.  Dekker & Webster, Westw. Hoe, V. Wks. 1873, II. 362. The story of vs both shall bee as good as an olde wiues tale, to cut off our way to London.

471   f.  To intercept, stop the passage or supply of.

472 1569.  Stocker, trans. Diod. Sic., I. iv. 9. Leosthenes seeing that he could not by force winne the towne, straightwaies cut of their victuals.

473 1780.  Coxe, Russ. Disc., 198. The Chinese … found means to cut off several straggling parties of Russians.

474 1817.  Jas. Mill, Brit. India, II. V. v. 495. [They] cut off several vehicles of baggage.

475 1836–9.  Dickens, Sk. Boz, The Streets, iii. At last the company’s man came to cut off the water.

476 1879.  Miss Yonge, Cameos, Ser. IV. iii. 29. War … would cut off their wool from the Flemish looms.

477   g.  To interrupt, stop (communication, passage, etc.); to render impossible by interposing an insurmountable obstacle.

478 1599.  B. Jonson, Ev. Man out of Hum., II. iii. ’Slight, our presence has cut off the conuoy of the iest.

479 1653.  H. Cogan, trans. Pinto’s Trav., vii. 19. He cut off his way, and stopt him from passing further.

480 1776.  N. Woodhull, in Sparks, Corr. Amer. Rev. (1853), I. 260. Cutting off the communication between the army in town and country.

481 1823.  J. D. Hunter, Mem. Captivity N. Amer., 52. We attempted to cut off their retreat.

482 1845.  Lever, O’Donoghue (1862), 352. I have sent a strong party … to cut off their advance.

483   h.  To exclude from access, intercourse, view, etc.; to shut out; to debar.

484 1576.  Fleming, Panopl. Epist., 405. You might alledge … some other impediment which cut you off from keeping company.

485 1709.  Berkeley, Th. Vision, § 77. The wall interposing cuts off all that prospect of sea and land.

486 1857.  W. Collins, Dead Secret, III. i. (1861), 66. The first cottage … which was cut off from other houses by a wall all round it.

487 1859.  Jephson, Brittany, vi. 76. Declaring a man a leper, and cutting him off from social intercourse.

488   i.  To cut off with a shilling: to disinherit by bequeathing a shilling (the bequest being a proof that the disinheritance was designed).

489 [1710.  Addison, Tatler, No. 216, ¶ 15. My eldest Son John … I do disinherit and wholly cut off from any Part of this my Personal Estate, by giving him a single Cockle Shell.]

490 1834.  Hood, Tylney Hall (1840), 268. Vowing … to cut him off with a shilling.

491 1861.  Geo. Eliot, Silas M., iii. I might get you turned out of house and home, and cut off with a shilling.

492   56.  Cut out.

493   a.  trans. To cut so as to take out; to excise, extract, or extirpate by cutting (something material).

494 c. 1400.  Maundev. (Roxb.), xix. 88. With þat knyf he cuttez out a pece of his flesch.

495 c. 1483.  Caxton, Vocab., 20. He can cutte out the stone.

496 1662.  Evelyn, Chalcogr., 9. With the Burine one cuts the peece all at once out of the plate.

497 1707.  Hearne, Collect., 31 Oct. He found the Leaves … cut out.

498 1711.  Addison, Spect., No. 23, ¶ 4. The Pope … ordered his Tongue to be cut out.

499 1840.  R. Liston, Elem. Surg., I. (ed. 2), 215. The affected parts … should be cut out.

500   b.  To remove, excise, omit (a portion of a literary work, etc.).

501 1736.  Fielding, Pasquin, I. I wish you could cut the ghost out, sir.

502 1779.  Sheridan, Critic, II. ii. Sir, the performers have cut it out.

503 1886.  Salmon, Introd. N. T., xviii. 380. The parts which it is proposed to cut out are indissolubly connected with those which are left behind.

504 1891.  Maude, Merciful Divorce, 117. Before I cut you out of my will.

505   c.  To surprise and carry off (a ship) from a harbor, etc., by getting between her and the shore.

506 1748.  Anson’s Voy., II. iii. 141. How impossible it would prove, either to board or to cut out any vessel protected by a force posted on shore within pistol-shot.

507 1781.  Mad. D’Arblay, Lett., Jan. After … cutting a few ships out of Torbay.

508 1882.  Stevenson, Fam. Stud. Men & Bks., 162. He could not swoop into a parlour and, in the naval phrase, ‘cut out’ a human being from that dreary port.

509   d.  U.S. and Australia. To detach or separate (an animal) from the herd.

510 1885.  Pall Mall Gaz., 20 March, 3/2. The two best hands will go in and ‘cut out’ the cattle that bear the brand of their employers.

511 1887.  L. Swinburne, in Scribner’s Mag., II. 508/2. Cut out, to separate an animal from the herd.

512   † e.  To exclude, debar (from); = cut off. Obs.

513 1729.  Butler, Serm., Wks. 1874, II. 47. They in a manner cut themselves out from all advantage of conversation.

514   f.  To get in front of a rival so as to intervene between him and success, or take the first place from him; to out-do, supplant in preference.

515   A driver or rider who ‘cuts in,’ cuts out some one else.

516 16[?].  Dryden, in Birch, Milton’s Wks., 1738, I. p. xlvii. This man [Milton] cuts us all out, and the Antients too.

517 1845.  Ld. Houghton, in Life (1891), I. 355. The King of the French has lent all the Crown jewels to the duchess, so she will quite cut our Queen out.

518 1848.  Thackeray, Bk. Snobs (1881), 220. He cut out all the other suitors of the duchess.

519   g.  To deprive, do out of.

520 1815.  Scott, Guy M., ii. The apprizer … cut the family out of another monstrous cantle of their remaining property.

521 1860.  A. L. Windsor, Ethica, iii. 136. Cutting him out of his annual butt of sack.

522   † h.  To divide for distribution. Obs.

523 1633.  D. Rogers, Treat. Sacraments, I. 142. By vertue of Christ cut out and divided to thee.

524   i.  To excavate, carve out; to form by excavation or carving.

525 1548.  [see CUT sb.2 20].

526 a. 1648.  Ld. Herbert, Life (1886), 102. The whole forest … was cut out into long walks every way.

527 1659.  D. Pell, Improv. Sea, 159. To what end the Lord did cut out all those Harbours, Creeks, Chanels, [etc.].

528 1726.  Shelvocke, Voy. round World (1757), 165. [They] saw the word Magee,… and capt. John cut out under it upon a tree.

529   j.  To fashion or shape by cutting (out of a piece).

530 1551.  T. Wilson, Logike (1580), 42 b. Although one have clothe, yet can he not have the use of it, except the Tailer cut it out.

531 1696.  J. F., Merchant’s Ware-ho., 38. How to cut out a Shift out of two Ells of Holland.

532 1891.  E. Peacock, N. Brendon, II. 108. She … could cut out men’s shirts. Ibid., 110. She could cut out much better than the ladies themselves.

533   k.  fig. To form, fashion, shape, to carve out.

534 1593.  Shaks., Rich. II., II. iii. 144. To … Be his owne Caruer, and cut out his way, To find out Right with Wrongs. Ibid. (1611), Wint. T., IV. iv. 393. By th’ patterne of mine owne thoughts, I cut out The puritie of his.

535 1802.  Mar. Edgeworth, Moral T. (1816), I. xx. 190. You … expect every … man to be just cut out upon the pattern of … Henry.

536 1842.  S. Lover, Handy Andy, xix. 170. I thought it was manners to cut out my behavor on your own patthern.

537   l.  fig. To plan; to prepare (work to be done).

538 1619.  Relat. betw. Eng. & Germ., Ser. II. (Camden), 68. How they may by … ill affected subjects cutt us out newe worke in Ireland and Scotland.

539 1754.  A. Murphy, Gray’s-Inn Jrnl., No. 98, ¶ 5. The excessive Officiousness of the female World in cutting out Matches.

540 1795.  Burke, Regic. Peace, iv. ad fin. Wks. IX. 126. They will cut out work for one another, and France will cut out work for them all.

541 1866.  Carlyle, Inaug. Addr., 174. The most unhappy of all men is the man … who has got no work cut out for him in the world.

542   m.  To form or fashion by nature (for a particular purpose). (Usually in pa. pple.)

543 1645.  J. Bond, Occasus Occid., 61. It was a Country by scituation … cut out for safety.

544 1708.  Dr. Smith, in Hearne, Collect., 23 Dec. You seeme as it were to bee cut out for those studyes.

545 a. 1715.  Burnet, Own Time (1766), I. 401. He was not cut out for a Court.

546 1874.  Burnand, My Time, xiv. 115. She was cut out for a clergyman’s wife.

547   † (b.)  To fix upon (for a purpose). Obs.

548 1667.  Pepys, Diary, 2 Sept. They told me both that they had long cut me out for Secretary to the Duke of York.

549   † n.  To cut it out: to flaunt, make a show, cut a dash. Obs.

550 1619.  J. Dyke, Counter poyson (1620), 39. They must flaunt, and cut it out in apparell, furniture [etc.].

551 1679.  G. R., trans. Boyatuau’s Theat. World, II. 149. Cutting it out in their Silks, Perfumes, and Embroideries.

552   o.  intr. To admit of being cut out into shape.

553 1829.  Bone Manure, Rep. Doncaster Comm., 31. The whole [manure] … will cut out like a jelly.

554 1850.  Jrnl. R. Agric. Soc., XI. I. 139. Hay never cuts out so well as when it has been stacked from the field as fast as made.

555   p.  intr. (orig. passive) Card-playing. To come out of or be excluded from a game (of whist) by cutting an unfavorable card; done in order to allow another player or players to cut in.

556 1771.  T. Hull, Sir W. Harrington (1797), II. 216. My Lord and I, happening to be cut out at the same time at whist.

557 1780.  Mad. D’Arblay, Diary, June. Mrs. G—, having cut out at cards … approached us.

558 1810.  Sporting Mag., XXXVI. 122. With the same pleasure that a gentleman who has cut out returns to a rubber.

559 1870.  Hardy & Ware, Mod. Hoyle, 5. (Whist) The fifth and sixth players … have the right to cut into the game when a rubber has been completed by the first four players. This operation is effected by two players cutting out…. Cutting out.… The players cut, and the highest go out, whether two or one.

560   57.  Cut over.

561   a.  intr. To run or pass across: see 17.

562 1551–70.  [see 17].

563   b.  trans. To cut down the trees or bushes growing over (an area); to pass over cutting.

564 1783.  Trans. Soc. Encourag. Arts, I. 170. By the time the whole four acres had been cut over.

565 1889.  W. Schlich, Man. Forestry, I. 10. The trees consist of stool shoots or root suckers, which are cut over periodically.

566   c.  To strike a person sharply over some part of the body with a weapon or missile; mostly passive: e.g., to be struck over the legs at hockey, to be struck or hurt by the ball at cricket; to be wounded.

567 1874.  Dasent, Half a Life, I. 122. [At hockey] Now mind you look out … or you’ll be cut over.

568 1888.  R. Kipling, Wee Willie Winkie, 66. If he lives, he writes Home that he has been ‘potted,’ ‘sniped,’ ‘chipped,’ or ‘cut over.’

569 1893.  Cricket Field, 29 July, 304. He was cut over twice in rapid succession owing to inequalities in the ground, and inaccuracies in the bowlers.

570   d.  To cut down, throw over with a slashing blow.

571 1884.  J. Colborne, Hicks Pasha, 153. The officer cut over the first with a blow on his neck.

572   58.  Cut under. To cut out by underselling. colloq.

573 1874.  Mayhew, London Char., 469 (Farmer). The spirit of competition on the part of the masters—the same universal desire to cut under.

574   59.  Cut up.

575   a.  trans. To cut so as to take or get up; to root up by cutting; also fig.

576 1602.  Marston, Ant. & Mel., IV. Wks. 1856, I. 45. Rootes, rootes? alas, they are seeded, new cut up.

577 1611.  Bible, Job xxx. 4. Who cut vp mallowes by the bushes.

578 1690.  Locke, Govt., I. xi. This doctrine cuts up all government by the roots.

579 1767.  Blackstone, Comm., II. 15. The law has therefore wisely cut up the root of dissension.

580 1839.  Standard, 28 Aug., 2/6. The gum trade … is nearly cut up by the roots.

581   b.  To cut in pieces; to divide into parts by cutting, to carve; to cut open.

582 1580.  Baret, Alv., C 1876. Cut vp: or winne these partriges.

583 1611.  Middleton & Dekker, Roaring Girl, III. ii. No wild fowl to cut up but mine!

584 1847.  Marryat, Childr. N. Forest, iii. Now I’ll cut up the onions, for they will make your eyes water.

585 1885.  Illust. Lond. News, 10 Oct., 362. Every lady and gentleman was instructed how to cut up a turkey, capon or bustard.

586   c.  fig. To divide into parts, destroy the continuity of; to destroy or mar irretrievably.

587 1813.  Leigh Hunt, in Examiner, 18 April, 242/2. His night’s sleep had been cut up.

588 1817.  Faraday, in B. Jones, Life & Lett. (1870), I. 248. My time is just now so closely cut up.

589 1864.  Burton, Scot Abr., I. iii. 123. [trans. Froissart] They will very soon cut up and destroy all we have in this country.

590   d.  To overcome with great slaughter, ‘cut to pieces’: see 7 c.

591 1803.  Wellington, in Owen, Wellesley’s Desp., 787. A parcel of stragglers cut up our wounded.

592 1821.  V. Blacker, Mahratta War, I. ix. 155, note. The body of cavalry … employed to cut-up the column of infantry.

593   e.  To cut, hack or gash the surface of irregularly; to damage by or as by cutting.

594 a. 1591.  H. Smith, Serm. (1622), 301. Like the plough, which cutteth up the ground that it may receive the seed.

595 1765.  Sterne, Tr. Shandy, VIII. xx. the roads, which were terribly cut up.

596 1827.  Hone, Every-day Bk., II. 104. The ice, injured by a partial thaw in some places, was much cut up.

597 1859.  All Year Round, No. 13. 306. The ground was … much cut up between wickets.

598   † f.  To whip up, to incite with the whip. Obs.

599 1756–66.  Amory, Buncle (1770), II. 24. My horse was as good … and I cut him up, and pricked him over the turf.

600   g.  fig. To censure, criticize or review with destructive severity.

601 1760.  Goldsm., Cit. W., xx. The book-answerers … when they have cut up some respectable name.

602 1782.  Miss Burney, Cecilia, VII. v. ‘May be … it’s out of bashfulness: perhaps he thinks we shall cut him up.’

603 1784.  R. Bage, Barham Downs, II. 228–9. The conversation fell naturally … upon Miss Whitaker’s affair, and Lord Winterbottom was cut up … without mercy.

604 1860.  Sala, Lady Chesterf., 55. [The reviewer] savagely cutting up people’s books or pictures.

605   h.  To wound deeply the feelings of; to distress greatly. (Usually in pass.)

606 1844.  Dickens, Christmas Carol, i. Scrooge was not so dreadfully cut up by the sad event.

607 1876.  F. E. Trollope, Charming Fellow, II. ix. 127. I believe he was dreadfully cut up at my going away.

608   † i.  To cut up short: to cut short, interrupt.

609 1607.  Hieron, Wks., I. 197. Shee, beeing … something a shrewd-tongued woman, by and by cut Him vp short.

610   j.  To share (plunder), to divide. slang.

611 [1779.  R. Cumberland, Wheel of Fort., IV. iii. (Farmer). A gentleman who trusts to servants in his absence is sure to be cut up,]

612 1879.  J. W. Horsley, in Macm. Mag., XL. 505/2 (Farmer). We had between sixty and seventy quid to cut up.

613   k.  intr. To admit of being cut up or divided, to turn out as to amount of fortune; properly a butcher’s phrase; said of a person after his death. slang.

614 1782.  Miss Burney, Cecilia, V. ix. Pray, how does he cut up? What has he left behind him?

615 1796.  Burke, Lett. Noble Ld., 68–9 (T.). Their only question … of their legislative butchers, How he cuts up?

616 1792.  Gibbon, Misc. Wks., I. (1814), 366. Geneva would cut up as fat as most towns in Europe.

617 1831.  Disraeli, Yng. Duke, IV. vii. ‘You think him rich?’ ‘Oh, he will cut up very large,’ said the Baron.

618 1848.  Thackeray, Bk. Snobs, vii. The old banker died in course of time, and … ‘cut up’ prodigiously well.

619   l.  To cut up rough, rusty, savage, etc.: (intr.) to become angry or quarrelsome. colloq.

620 1837.  Dickens, Pickw., xlii. I may say I von’t pay, and cut up rough.

621 1849.  Thackeray, Pendennis, l. Hang it! you cut up quite savage.

622 1873.  Black, Pr. Thule, vii. 101. ‘Now, Ingram … don’t cut up rough about it.’

623   m.  To cut a dash; show off; to behave (in a specified way); to behave badly or indecorously. U.S. colloq.

624 1787.  Generous Attachment, I. 89. A couple of plough boys … would do, when properly dressed, and eat it up … as well as the best.

625 1859.  H. W. Beecher, Notes fr. Plymouth Pulpit. I believe I never did cut up so bad any one week as I did that week.

626 1861.  Lowell, Biglow P., Ser. II. i. It ain’t no use to argerfy ner try to cut up frisky.

627 1888.  Howells, Likely Story, in Harper’s Mag., Dec., 26. If you dare to touch them, I’ll ring for Jane, and then she’ll see you cutting up.

628   n.  Sporting slang. To ‘behave’ (badly, etc.) in a race or competition.

629 1883.  Scotsman, 11 July, 18/1. He cut up badly and can have no chance for the Cup.

630 1883.  Illustr. Lond. News, 12 May, 463/2 (Farmer). Export again cut up wretchedly in the Burwell Stakes.

631   X.  Phraseological expressions and combinations containing the verb-stem.

632   60.  Cut-and-come-again. The act or faculty of cutting (from a joint of meat, etc.) and of returning to help oneself as often as one likes; hence, unfailing supply, abundance; also fig. Also attrib.

633 1738.  Swift, Pol. Conversat., iii. 121. I vow, ’tis a noble sirloyn. Ay; here’s cut and come again, Miss.

634 1827.  S. P., in Hone, Every-day Bk., II. 54. It [a ham] is a cut-and-come-again dish, ready at hand at all times.

635 1841.  Thackeray, Gt. Hoggarty Diamond, iv. Always happy to see a friend in our plain way,—pale sherry, old port, and cut and come again.

636 1861.  Sala, Dutch Pict., xv. 241. You cut your steak off hot from the living animal, on the cut and come again principle.

637   61.  Cut-and-cover. Engineering. A method of constructing a tunnel by making a cutting in which the brickwork lining is built and then covered in: employed with advantage when the depth below the surface is comparatively small.

638 1892.  Daily News, 2 Nov., 2/8. Certain portions of this work … could be much better and more cheaply executed by the method of cut-and-cover. Ibid., 22 Nov., 3/1. Excavating what is technically called the ‘cut and cover’ portion of the work—the portion of the tunnel, that is to say, between the open approach and the river. This is cut out, arched over, and covered in again.

639   62.  Cut and thrust: see CUT sb.2 2 c.

640   63.  Comb. a. with object noun, = ‘that which or he who cuts…’ as cut-air, -beard, -caper, -girdle, -nose; CUTPURSE, CUTTHROAT, CUTWATER; b. = ‘…used to cut, cutting,’ as cut-whip, CUT-GRASS.

641 a. 1661.  Holyday, Juvenal, 266. A Cut-purse … is by Plautus called … a Cut-girdle.

642 1665.  Hooke, Microgr., 174. The biggest stem of all the wing, and may be properly enough call’d the cut-air.

643 a. 1678.  Marvell, Poems, Brit. & Raleigh. And Commons’ votes shall cut-nose guards disband.

644 1693.  Shadwell, Volunteers, I. ii. Her sense and breeding is fit for none but a cutcaper.

645 1767.  S. Paterson, Another Trav., I. 39. Not one … greasy, lying, tale-bearing … newsmonger cut-beard is to be found.

646 1887.  Pall Mall Gaz., 5 Aug., 3/1. A light, thin, supple, whalebone cut whip.

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