cut
Noun pluralcuts
Pluralcuts
- 1To divide something into parts using a knife, scissors, or another sharp instrument.
The chef cut the onion into a fine dice before adding it to the pan.
Use sharp shears to cut the fabric along the marked line.
UsageName the pieces with into: cut the onion into strips. Cut up means cut into small pieces.
Similarchop, slice, divide, split
Note
Where making an incision opens a surface, here the blade goes all the way through and leaves parts behind. Alexander Pope's Odyssey of 1725 stretches it to ships that "cut the liquid way," parting water rather than solid matter.
Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 2 facts
- The quoted passage appeared in Book III, volume I, of Alexander Pope's Odyssey translation in 1725. en.wiktionary.org
- The translation describes vessels that 'cut the liquid way'; the quotation concerns movement through water. en.wikisource.org
- 2To reduce something, such as costs or prices, especially as a deliberate decision.
The company cut its workforce by ten percent last year.
Lawmakers voted to cut funding for the program.
UsageThe amount follows by: cut costs by ten percent. Cut back on and cut down on are common too.
Similarreduce, lower, slash, trim, decrease
Oppositeincrease, raise, boost
Note
The verb of budgets and policy: salaries are cut by fifteen percent, and services to wayside stations are cut. George Monbiot in The Guardian Weekly (2013) and Nigel Harris in RAIL (2022) both use it of public provision. There the passive (services are cut) lets the decision-maker stay out of view.
Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 3 facts
- George Monbiot's article appeared in The Guardian Weekly in 2013. theguardian.com
- Monbiot used 'cut' of public services. monbiot.com
- Nigel Harris used 'cutting' of services to wayside stations in RAIL in 2022, as documented by Wiktionary's dated quotation. en.wiktionary.org
- 3A decrease in amount, or the removal of part of something.
The latest round of spending cuts hit public services hardest.
A sudden cut in production led to shortages across the region.
UsageOften a cut in something, or a compound: a pay cut, tax cuts, spending cuts.
Similarreduction, decrease, drop, decline
Note
Making cuts to a text is deletion, so the plural often means removed passages.
- 4To make an opening or wound in something or someone with a knife, blade, or other sharp edge.
She cut her finger while chopping onions for dinner.
Cut a small slit in the top of the bag to let the steam escape.
UsagePast tense and past participle are both cut (not
incorrect: cutted): I cut my finger yesterday.Note
The court scene of The Merchant of Venice, with its "You must cut this flesh from off his breast," shows the sense at its starkest.
Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 1 fact
- The quoted words occur in the court scene of The Merchant of Venice, spoken by Portia; the excerpt omits the opening conjunction “And”. shakespeare.mit.edu
- 5An opening in a living body produced by cutting; an incision or wound.
The vet made a small cut in the horse's side to remove the lump.
The sheep had a nasty cut where the shears had slipped.
Similarincision, wound, gash, laceration
- 6To form or shape something by removing material with a sharp tool.
The jeweler cut the diamond into fifty-eight precise facets.
Craftsmen cut each panel into an identical shape by hand.
Similarcarve, shape, chisel, hew
Note
Here the object can be the thing produced rather than the material worked. Milton's Paradise Lost has "loopholes cut through thickest shade," and Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice imagines a grandsire "cut in alabaster," with in naming the material. A gem cutter's "diamonds to cut" sits between the two, since the stone is both the material and the finished shape.
Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 2 facts
- John Milton's Paradise Lost contains the words "loopholes cut through thickest shade." gutenberg.org
- William Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice contains the image of a grandsire "cut in alabaster"; Gratiano speaks the words in Act I, scene i. gutenberg.org
- 7To remove or exclude someone or something that was previously included or associated.
The singer was cut from the band's lineup after he missed three straight shows.
Management decided to cut the underperforming division entirely.
UsageOften passive with from: was cut from the team, cut from the lineup.
Similardrop, remove, axe, eliminate
Note
The one doing the cutting is often left unsaid, because the decision belongs to a coach or a manager. It takes people and units alike, from a player dropped from a squad to a division dropped from a company.
- 8To stop, switch off, or disengage something.
As the boat drifted close to the dock, the captain cut the engine and tossed a rope to his friend.
Cut the music when the announcement starts.
UsageOften a blunt command: cut the engine, cut the music. To tell people to stop doing something, Cut it out!
Oppositestart (entry)
- 9To make a work shorter by taking material out, or to delete part of a recording in editing.
The publisher cut the novel by almost a hundred pages.
The director had to cut two scenes to keep the movie under two hours.
UsageThe object can be the whole work, cut a speech, or the part removed, cut a scene from the film.
Similarshorten, trim, abridge, drop
Note
What gets removed is itself a cut, and a finished edit of a film can be called a cut as well.
- 10To pass through or across something so as to divide it in two, or nearly so.
The new highway cuts right through the old neighborhood.
Several small creeks cut across the valley floor on their way to the lake.
UsageFollowed by through or across: a road cuts through town. To cut across a field also means take a shortcut.
Note
Sports reports use it for a player slipping through a gap, as when Dyer cuts between Lescott and Vieira in a 2011 Guardian match report. Whatever the scale, the path splits what it crosses rather than going around it.
Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 2 facts
- A Guardian match report describes Dyer cutting between Lescott and Vieira. theguardian.com
- The Guardian report was published in 2011. theguardian.com
- 11
- 12A slab or slice of food, especially a piece of meat from a particular part of an animal.
Brisket is a tough cut that becomes tender after hours of braising.
She chose a lean cut to keep the dish low in fat.
UsageUsually a cut of + meat: a cut of beef, a cheap cut.
Note
Most often meat, as in "our finest cut," where a cut is known by the part of the animal it comes from. It stretches to other food: Henry B. Fuller's Bertram Cope's Year (1919) has a character asking for "a cut of pie."
Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 3 facts
- Henry B. Fuller wrote Bertram Cope's Year. en.wikisource.org
- Bertram Cope's Year was first published in 1919. en.wikisource.org
- The novel describes a character asking for a cut of pie; the phrase is narrated rather than directly spoken. gutenberg.org
- 13
- 14A distinct, separately identifiable part of a recording, such as a single song on an album.
The opening cut sets the mood for the entire album.
Each cut on the live record was taken from a different night of the tour.
UsageTrack is the more common word; cut sounds like music-industry or review talk.
Similartrack
Note
Record-trade language for a single track: Billboard in 1975 lists an album's "Best cuts."
Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 1 fact
- Billboard used "Best cuts" for album tracks in 1975. en.wiktionary.org
- 15The manner or style in which a garment or sail is fashioned and shaped.
The tailored cut of the suit flattered her figure.
An old-fashioned cut gave the coat a distinctly Victorian silhouette.
UsageOften the cut of a suit or jacket. I like the cut of his jib means I like his look or manner.
Similarstyle, fit, tailoring, shape
Note
The word reaches past the scissors to the finished shape. The cut of a suit is how its cloth was shaped, and Shakespeare's As You Like It extends it to grooming with "beard of formal cut". Sailors judge a jib the same way, and the idiom the cut of someone's jib, as in "I like the cut of his jib," turns that into approval of a person's whole look.
Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 4 facts
- Shakespeare's As You Like It contains "beard of formal cut"; Jaques speaks the words in Act 2, Scene 7. shakespeare.mit.edu
- The nautical expression concerns a sail's shape. en.wikipedia.org
- The personal idiom derives from identifying sailing vessels by their sails. en.wikipedia.org
- Liking someone's "cut of jib" expresses approval of their appearance. en.wikipedia.org
- 16
- 17
- 18
Less common meanings
- 19To shorten something or tidy it by clipping away its ends or top, as is done to hair, nails, hedges, or lawns.
You should cut your fingernails short before the climbing class starts.
He hasn't had his hair cut since spring, and it now falls well past his collar.
UsageWhen someone else does it, use have or get: I got my hair cut yesterday. Grass is cut or mowed.
- 20To remove text, an image, or other content and hold it in memory so it can be pasted elsewhere later.
He cut the paragraph and pasted it into the new document.
To move the figure, cut it from the report and drop it into the appendix.
UsageCut moves content, while copy leaves the original in place. Usually cut and paste.
Note
Half of the cut-and-paste pair: select the text, cut it, then paste it elsewhere, even into another application. Cutting removes the content from its original place and holds it on the clipboard.
Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 2 facts
- Selected text can be cut and then pasted elsewhere, including into another application. en.wikipedia.org
- Cut content is held on the clipboard for pasting. learn.microsoft.com
- 21A particular edited version of a film, reflecting the choices made during editing.
The studio released a shorter cut for international audiences.
The final cut removed two subplots that slowed the pacing.
UsageUsually with a word in front: the director's cut, a rough cut, the final cut.
Note
The noun of film editing that names a whole version: the director's cut, a rough cut, the final cut.
- 22To join a line at the wrong place, ahead of people who were already waiting.
Please don't cut; everyone here has been waiting for an hour.
Two teenagers cut in line just as the doors opened.
UsageUsually cut in line or cut in front of someone. Jump the queue is another way to say it.
- 23The shape a gemstone is given by cutting and polishing, together with the pattern of its facets.
Buyers often weigh a diamond's cut as heavily as its color and clarity.
The old ruby was reshaped into a modern cushion cut, which brought out far more of its fire.
- 24A director's command to stop filming or recording the current take.
'Cut!' she called, unhappy with the lighting on the final take.
After the stunt landed perfectly, the director shouted cut and the crew applauded.
Oppositeaction
Note
The director's word that ends a take, and the counterpart of action, which starts one. It is called out on set, usually alone and with an exclamation point.
Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 1 fact
- The director calls cut to end a take and action to begin the performance. collegearts.yale.edu
- 25A share or portion of profits or earnings owed to someone.
The middleman demanded his cut before releasing the goods.
Investors expect a cut of the profits proportional to their stake.
UsageUsually take a cut, get a cut, or a cut of the profits: his cut.
Similarshare, portion, percentage, slice
Note
The taxman gets his cut, the robbers each got their cut, and Epic takes "a 5% cut" in Andrew R. Chow's piece for Time (2022). The word suggests a slice taken off the top rather than an equal partnership, which is why it pairs easily with taxmen and thieves.
- 26To engage in self-harm by deliberately making cuts in one's own skin.
Many teenagers who cut hide the scars under long sleeves.
She cut her wrists during the worst months of her depression.
UsageOften used without an object (she started cutting) or with oneself (cut herself).
- 27To wound someone's feelings deeply, as if piercing them.
Criticism from a close friend can cut you far deeper than a stranger's.
Being left out of his own daughter's wedding cut him to the quick.
UsageSet phrases: cut someone to the quick, cut to the heart, cut deep.
Note
The hurt is pictured as a blade going in, and the idioms say how deep: sarcasm cuts to the quick, the tender living flesh, and a listener is cut to the heart. Elijah Hoole's 1829 mission narrative has a woman who feared she would laugh at a European preaching in Tamil, then was "cut to the heart by what she heard".
Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 3 facts
- The quick is tender, sensitive flesh. en.wiktionary.org
- Elijah Hoole's mission narrative was first published in 1829. upload.wikimedia.org
- Hoole describes a woman who feared laughing at a European preaching in Tamil but was instead deeply moved, using the quoted wording. upload.wikimedia.org
- 28In a multi-round stroke-play golf tournament, the reduction of the field after the early rounds, dropping players outside a set place or score.
She birdied the last hole to make the cut with a shot to spare.
Rain delays pushed the cut back to Saturday morning, and several former champions did not survive it.
UsageGolfers make the cut or miss the cut. Make the cut also means get through any selection.
- 29A passage left out, or marked to be left out, of a play, film script, or speech.
The most painful cut was the writer's favorite monologue, which the director dropped after the first preview.
The restored edition of the play prints the original cuts in brackets so readers can see what the censors removed.
Similardeletion, excision, omission
Oppositeaddition
Note
A theater and film word for what is taken out of a script, and usually plural in rehearsal: the director gives the cast a list of cuts to note down. A cut can be proposed before it is made, so marking cuts is part of preparing a text. It is distinct from an edited version of a film, which is what remains afterward.
Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 2 facts
- A cut can be a script passage already omitted or intended for omission. en.wiktionary.org
- An edited version of a film is a distinct sense of cut. en.wiktionary.org
- 30To make an abrupt transition from one shot or scene to another.
Editors often cut from a wide establishing shot to a tight close-up.
The sequence cuts abruptly from daylight to darkness.
UsageFollowed by to or from: the film cuts to a kitchen.
Note
Film grammar's plainest join: one shot gives way to the next with nothing in between. The subject can be the camera, the film or the editor. The director calling the order to stop recording on set means something else entirely.
Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 2 facts
- A cut directly joins successive shots without an intervening transition effect. ask.ifas.ufl.edu
- The director's command cut signals that recording should stop, distinct from an editing transition. en.wikipedia.org
- 31To make, negotiate or conclude something such as a deal, or to issue something such as a check.
The prosecutor offered to cut him a deal if he testified.
Once the paperwork cleared, the insurer cut a check for the full amount.
UsageFixed pairs: cut a deal, cut someone a deal, cut a check.
- 32To lay down a recording of a song or album, typically in a studio.
She cut her debut single at a tiny studio above a laundromat.
The group plans to cut a live album during next month's shows.
UsageUsually cut a record, cut a single, cut an album.
Similarrecord
- 33To deliberately miss a class, appointment, or other event one is expected to attend.
Several students cut the morning lecture to attend the protest.
If you cut practice again, the coach will bench you.
UsageThe object is the event, often with no article: cut class, cut school, cut practice.
Oppositeattend
Note
Thomas Hamilton's Men and Manners in America (1833) already has a tradesman eager "to cut the shop" whenever he safely can.
Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 3 facts
- Thomas Hamilton wrote Men and Manners in America. en.wikipedia.org
- Men and Manners in America was first published in 1833. archive.org
- The book describes an English tradesman eager “to cut the shop” whenever he can do so safely; the quoted words are exact. archive.org
- 34To assemble a film by selecting and arranging takes from the original footage.
Editors cut their films differently depending on the genre's pacing demands.
She cut the feature from hundreds of hours of footage.
Note
The transitive side of film editing: an editor cuts a film, a trailer or a scene. What comes out of the process is itself a cut, meaning a version of the film.
- 35Having muscular definition where individual groups of muscle fibers stand out distinctly among the larger muscles.
By contest day, the athlete was remarkably cut, every muscle group clearly separated.
His back looked cut, with each band of muscle sharply outlined.
UsageOften with ripped: cut and ripped. It means clear muscle lines, not big muscles.
Similarripped, shredded, chiseled, defined
Note
Gym talk for definition, not size: a cut physique shows separate bands of muscle. The look is the goal of cutting, losing fat while keeping muscle.
Checked 3 Nov 2026 · 1 fact
- Cutting aims to lose body fat while maintaining muscle mass. health.clevelandclinic.org
- 36To leave a place or gathering abruptly, often without notice.
Nobody noticed when Dana cut out of the reception halfway through the speeches.
If the band doesn't start soon, I'm going to cut out and grab dinner somewhere else.
UsageOften cut out or just cut, with early or now: I have to cut out early.
- 37Lowered or reduced from a previous level.
The airline lured travelers with sharply cut fares.
The outlet store sells last season's designer shoes at cut prices, so a line forms early every weekend.
UsageMostly before a noun: cut prices, cut rates, cut fares.
Similarreduced, discounted, slashed
Oppositeraised
Note
Mostly met before a noun, as in cut prices or cut rates. Cut brandy is brandy mixed with hard grain liquor, which ties it to the verb of diluting. In such compounds the reduction can be in strength, not simply in amount.
Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 1 fact
- Cut brandy contains brandy mixed with grain spirit. en.wikipedia.org
- 38To dilute or weaken a substance, especially a recreational drug, by mixing in another material.
The supplier cut the cocaine with a cheap additive to boost profits.
Street dealers cut their product so heavily that little of the drug remains.
UsageThe added material follows with: cut the powder with baking soda.
Similardilute, adulterate
Note
Slang when it touches drugs, ordinary bar talk when it doesn't. A malt whisky is cut with a dash of water, a stingy bartender cuts his beer, and a dealer cuts cocaine with lidocaine. In the drug sense the word implies adulteration, while with whisky it can mean a welcome dilution. The substance mixed in is often called a cutting agent.
Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 4 facts
- Whisky can be diluted with a little water for drinking. scotch-whisky.org.uk
- Cutting beer can mean diluting it to save money. en.wiktionary.org
- Cocaine is adulterated with lidocaine. pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Materials added to dilute or adulterate cocaine are called cutting agents. pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- 39To divide a pack of playing cards into two parts, often then reversing their order.
Each player must cut the deck once before play starts.
He cuts twice for luck before every hand.
Usagecut the deck or cut the cards, or just cut; it is a separate turn from dealing.
Note
Cutting and dealing are separate turns, often taken by different players. As a noun, cut also names the act of cutting the deck and the card it turns up.
Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 1 fact
- Cutting precedes dealing as a separate action, and the designated cutter is often someone other than the dealer. en.wikipedia.org
- 40In bodybuilding, to lose body mass while trying to keep muscle and shed fat.
Many lifters bulk up over the winter and cut before summer.
He's cutting for the regional competition in June.
UsageOften paired with bulk: bulk in winter, cut before summer. You cut for a contest.
Oppositebulk
Note
Bodybuilders treat cutting as one half of a cycle: first they bulk, eating more to build muscle, then they cut, eating less while still training hard, so that the muscle shows. The lean result is described with the muscular adjective: after a good cut, a bodybuilder looks cut.
Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 3 facts
- Bodybuilders commonly follow a cycle of bulking followed by cutting, increasing food intake to build muscle and then reducing it to lose fat while continuing weight training. sportsdietitians.com.au
- Continued strength training during cutting helps preserve muscle. health.clevelandclinic.org
- Cutting aims to lose body fat while retaining muscle, improving muscular definition. en.wikipedia.org
- 41A direct change from one shot or scene to the next in an edited film or video, made instantly rather than through a fade or similar gradual effect.
The director used a hard cut from the funeral to a crowded wedding reception to jolt the audience.
The editor replaced the slow fades with quick cuts to give the music video more energy.
Note
The editing room uses one word for its briefest join and for its whole product. A cut in this sense lasts an instant and runs from one shot to another, just as the verb does (the film cuts to the wedding), while a version of the entire film is a cut of quite another size. You make or count cuts of this kind; the other kind you watch or release.
Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 2 facts
- A cut is an instantaneous transition between shots. en.wikipedia.org
- Cut also denotes the resulting edited film. en.wikipedia.org
- 42To hit a person or animal sharply with a whip or something similar.
- 43To remove the testicles of a male animal so it cannot breed.
- 44Of a horse in motion, to clip the inside of one leg with the hoof of the other, often causing injury.
- 45To be capable of being sliced or divided by a blade, as a material that gives way easily under a knife.
- 46To deliberately act as if one does not see or know someone, as a public snub.
- 47In cricket, to give the ball sideways spin when bowling by drawing the fingertips down one side of it.
- 48In cricket, to hit a delivery toward the off side with a downward, horizontal stroke of the bat.
- 49To present a particular appearance or impression, as in cutting a fine or sorry figure.
- 50To give up or abandon something, such as a habit, a food or a friendship.
- 51To send a ball off to the side with a glancing or angled stroke, as in billiards, croquet or tennis.
- 52To perform a showy or complicated dance step or movement, as in cutting a caper.
- 53To dash away fast, as in cutting along home.
- 54Separated, opened, trimmed or shaped by cutting, as with cut flowers or a cut finger.
- 55Shaped by carving or grinding, as a gem or stone, rather than left in its natural rough state.
- 56Of a shot, hit with the bat held level so that the ball goes behind point.
- 57Having had the foreskin removed, or, of a girl or woman, having undergone female genital mutilation (FGM).
- 58Hurt or upset, often angry, because of something someone said or did.
- 59Under the influence of alcohol or drugs.
- 60A blow struck with a chopping swing so that the edge or tip of the sword hits.
- 61A stretch of dieting and training in which someone tries to shed fat while keeping muscle.
- 62Something produced by cutting, such as an opening, a slice or a mark left by a blade.
- 63A channel dug through higher ground to carry a road, railroad, canal or runway.
- 64A man-made waterway for ships, as opposed to a natural river.
- 65In cricket, a stroke played with a horizontal swing of the bat, sending the ball to the off side behind point.
- 66The way a quick bowler's delivery veers off line in flight because of the spin put on it at release.
- 67In tennis and similar games, an angled stroke that puts spin on the ball so it bounces unpredictably, or the spin given.
- 68The act of splitting a deck of cards into two parts, or the right to do so.
- 69The card turned up or revealed when a deck is split in two.
- 70A pointed refusal to acknowledge someone one knows, such as ignoring their greeting.
- 71A hurtful or cruel thing done to someone.
- 72A remark meant to wound or offend.
- 73The edge or surface left where earlier deposits were dug away to make a feature such as a pit or ditch, recording that moment.
- 74A division of the vertices of a graph into two separate sets.
- 75A marker in a Tumblr post that hides everything after it until the reader chooses to expand it.
- 76A group of coupled railroad cars forming a unit shorter than a whole train.
- 77A block or plate engraved for printing a picture, or a print made from it.
- 78An ordinary working horse, or a castrated male horse.
He's buy me a whit Cut, forth for to ride
1613, William Shakespeare, John Fletcher - 79A failure by a student or college officer to attend a required class, chapel or other event.
- 80A fixed length of yarn wound into a loose coil, used as a measure in spinning.
- 81A substance mixed into an illegal drug to stretch or weaken it.
- 82A slit-like line razored through an eyebrow, worn as a style statement.
- 83A secret or out-of-the-way spot where someone can hide or keep things safe.
- 84The band of boiling temperatures at which a given fraction is separated from crude oil during refining.
- 85A sleeveless jacket, usually leather or denim, bearing a motorcycle club's patches and worn by its members.
Showing meanings only.
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Origin
From Middle English cutten (also kitten), taken from a North Germanic source whose deeper origin is uncertain, perhaps linked to a Germanic word for meat or flesh; it pushed out the native verb snithen. The rare sense "drunk" dates from the 1600s, from the old euphemism of having "cut one's leg," and lives on mainly in half-cut.
Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 7 facts
- The Middle English antecedent had the forms cutten and kitten. en.wiktionary.org
- Cut comes from a North Germanic source with an uncertain deeper origin. en.wiktionary.org
- A possible deeper connection is with a Germanic word for meat or flesh. en.wiktionary.org
- Cut displaced Middle English snithen. en.wiktionary.org
- Snithen was an inherited native verb. en.wiktionary.org
- Cut meaning drunk was recorded in the 1600s. gutenberg.org
- The drunkenness sense derives from the euphemism about having cut one's leg. en.wiktionary.org