Definition of: cut

(kut) v. cut, cut·ting v.t.
1. To pierce, gash, or pass through with or as with a sharp edge.
2. To strike sharply, as with a whip.
3. To affect deeply; hurt the feelings of.
4. To divide, sever, or carve into parts or segments.
5. To fell, hew, or chop down, as a tree or timber: often with down.
6. To mow or reap, as grain.
7. To shape, prepare, or make, as gems or carvings.
8. To hollow out, excavate.
9. To trim, shear, or pare.
10. To excise; edit out.
11. To reduce or lessen: to cut prices.
12. To dilute or weaken: to cut whisky.
13. To dissolve or break down, as fat globules: to cut grease.
14. To cross or intersect.
15. To castrate; geld.
16. Colloq. a To ignore socially, snub. b To stay away from wilfully, as work or classes.
17. To divide, as a pack of cards before dealing.
18. In racket sports, to chop (the ball) so it will spin and bound sharply and irregularly.
19. To turn the wheels of, as an automobile, so as to make the vehicle turn sharply.
20. To perform; present: to cut a caper.
21. To grow or acquire: to cut a tooth.
—v.i.
22. To cut, cleave, or make an incision; do the work of a sharp edge.
23. To admit of being severed or cut.
24. To use an instrument for cutting.
25. To grow out through the gums: said of teeth.
26. To divide a card pack before dealing.
27. In sports, to chop the ball; also, to veer sharply while running.
28. To move or proceed by the shortest or most direct route: The boys cut across the field.
—to cut a figure
1. To make a fine appearance.
2. To be of importance.
3. To make an impression: to cut a poor figure in scholarship.
—to cut a melon To divide, as large profits or gains, with one's associates.
—to cut and run Formerly, to cut the moorings of a vessel and set sail hastily; hence, to dash off without notice.
—to cut back
1. To shorten by removing the end.
2. To curtail or cancel, as a contract, before fulfilment.
3. In sports, to run or dash erratically; change direction suddenly.
—to cut corners To eliminate all but the most necessary items, as clothing for a trip, expenses, etc.
—to cut down
1. To reduce the length or amount of; shorten; curtail.
2. To kill, as with a sword.
—to cut no ice Colloq. To make no impression; have no significance.
—to cut in
1. To interrupt a dancing couple in order to take the place of one partner.
2. To interrupt, as a conversation.
3. To move into (a line or queue) out of turn.
—to cut it fine To arrange or estimate to the narrowest degree of tolerance: He cut it fine when he passed that car.
—to cut loose
1. To release.
2. To speak or behave without restraint.
—to cut off
1. To put an end to; destroy.
2. To interrupt.
3. To intercept.
—to cut out
1. Colloq. To start away with haste.
2. To displace (another); supplant, as a rival.
3. To quit or renounce, as smoking.
4. To separate from the herd, as a horse or steer.
5. Austral. Colloq. To complete wool shearing; to complete any task.
—to cut up
1. To slice or cut into pieces.
2. Slang To behave in an unruly manner.
—noun
1. The opening, cleft, or wound made by an edged instrument; a gash; slit.
2. A cutting motion or stroke.
3. The part cut off.
4. That which cuts or hurts the feelings.
5. A cutting; excavated passage; groove; a road made through rock or a mountain for a railroad, canal, etc.
6. A direct way, as across an angle.
7. Fashion, form, style; also, number of arrangements of facets: the cut of a diamond.
8. An engraved block, or an impression from it.
9. A reduction, as in rates or of written matter; also, the part thus removed.
10. A refusal to recognize an acquaintance.
11. Colloq. An intentional failure in attendance, as at classes in college.
12. One of the bits of material used in drawing lots: to draw cuts.
13. The act of cutting in card playing.
14. A stroke imparting spin to a ball, in lawn tennis and cricket; also, the spin so imparted.
15. A fancy dancing step.
16. In a strip of motion–picture film, the narrow band separating one frame or exposure from the next.
17. Chem. a The quantity of resin added to each gallon of solvent. b A fraction of petroleum.
18. The output or seasonal yield of anything to be cut, as grain, timber, etc.
19. A group of animals, as cows or steers, separated from a herd to be driven elsewhere.
20. U.S. Colloq. A share.
—adjective
1. Formed or affected by cutting; wounded; severed.
2. Dressed or finished by a tool, as stone or glass.
3. Castrated.
4. Reduced.
5. Bot. Incised or cleft.
6. Diluted. [ME cutten, kytten <Scand.] Synonyms (verb): carve, chop, cleave, dissect, gash, hack, hew, sever, shear, slice, sunder, whittle.
See RETRENCH.