Heading
upon the word 'eye,' with an allusion to the canine teeth.]
Cut One's Own Grass, verbal
phr. (prison).—To get one's own
living. Cf., Paddle one's own
canoe.
Cut Out, verbal phr. (colloquial).—To
debar; deprive of advantage;
supersede. Cf., Cut, verb, sense
5. [Originally a nautical term;
from cutting out a ship in an
enemy's port.]
1779. R. Cumberland, Wheel of Fortune, Act iv., Sc. 3. I suspect your heart inclines to Captain Woodville; and now he is come to England, I suppose I am likely to be cut out.
1856. C. Bronté, Professor, ch. iii. There's Waddy—Sam Waddy—making up to her; won't I cut him out?
1863. Hon. Mrs. Norton, Lost and Saved, p. 182. One woman has often cut another out, whose superiority, if dissected and analysed, would be found to be composed of the carriage that whirled her up to the door, the nimble footman who rapped at it, the soft carpet on the handsome staircase, the drawing-room to which it led, and the gilt stand full of geraniums, heliotropes, and roses in the curtained window.
1864. G. A. Lawrence, Guy Livingstone, ch. xxv. Here, as elsewhere, she pursued her favourite amusement, remorselessly. Fallowfield called it 'her cutting out expeditions.' She used to watch till a mother and daughter had, between them, secured a good matrimonial prize, and then employ her fascinations on the captured one.
Cut Out of, verbal phr. (common).—To
'do,' or be done, out of.
Cuts, subs. (tailors').—Scissors.
'Small cuts' = button-hole
scissors.
Cut Saucy.—See Saucy.
Cut Short. (Generally cut it
short!) phr. (common).—A
common injunction not to be
prolix. For synonyms, see Stow
it.
1852. Dickens, Bleak House, ch. lvii., p. 478. 'Come, then!' he gruffly cried to her, 'You hear what she says. Cut it short, and tell her.'
1878. Jas. Payn, By Proxy, ch. xvi. Let us cut this short, Pennicuick. There is nothing more of importance to be said, and such talk is painful to both of us.
Cutter, subs, (old).—A robber;
a bully. [From committing acts
of violence like those ascribed to
the Mohocks; or, from cutting
purses. Cotgrave translates cutter
(or swash-buckler) by
balaffreux, taillebras, fendeur de
naseaux. Coles has, 'A cutter
(or robber), gladiator, latro.']
This ancient cant word now
survives in the phrase, 'to swear
like a cutter.'
c. 1589. Nashe, Month's Mind, in wks., vol. I., p. 152. These like lustie cutters . . . aduentured to lay holde fast on our purses, and like strong theeues in deed proffered to robbe vs of all our monnie.
1633. Rowley, Match at Midn., O. Pl., vii., 353. He's out of cash, and thou know'st, by cutter's law we are bound to relieve one another.
1663. Abraham Cowley, The Cutter of Coleman St. [Title of play.]
1822. Scott, Fortunes of Nigel, ch. xxiii. Fifty thousand decuses, the spoils of five thousand bullies, cutters, and spendthrifts.
Cut the Line, Rope, or String,
verbal phr. (thieves').—To cut a
story short; to stop yarning.—See
Cave.
Cut the Painter, verbal phr.
(nautical). 1. To decamp; make
off—secretly and suddenly. For
synonyms, see Amputate and
Skedaddle.
2. To die.—See Aloft and Hop the twig.
