(cuts, cutting)
Frequency: The word is one of the 700 most common words in English.
Note: The form 'cut' is used in the present tense and is the past tense and past participle.
1.
If you cut something, you use a knife or a similar tool to divide it into pieces, or to mark it or damage it. If you cut a shape or a hole in something, you make the shape or hole by using a knife or similar tool.
Mrs. Haines stood nearby, holding scissors to cut a ribbon...
The thieves cut a hole in the fence...
Mr. Long was now cutting himself a piece of the pink cake...
You can hear the saw as it cuts through the bones.
...thinly cut cucumber sandwiches.
VERB: V n, V n prep/adv, V n n, V through n, V-ed
•
Cut is also a noun.
The operation involves making several cuts in the cornea.
N-COUNT
2.
If you cut yourself or cut a part of your body, you accidentally injure yourself on a sharp object so that you bleed.
Johnson cut himself shaving...
I started to cry because I cut my finger...
Blood from his cut lip trickled over his chin.
VERB: V pron-refl, V n, V-ed
•
Cut is also a noun.
He had sustained a cut on his left eyebrow.
...cuts and bruises.
N-COUNT
3.
If you cut something such as grass, your hair, or your fingernails, you shorten them using scissors or another tool.
The most recent tenants hadn't even cut the grass...
You've had your hair cut, it looks great...
She had dark red hair, cut short.
VERB: V n, have n V-ed, V-ed
•
Cut is also a noun.
Prices vary from salon to salon, starting at ?17 for a cut and blow-dry.
N-SING
4.
The way that clothes are cut is the way they are designed and made.
...badly cut blue suits.
VERB: usu passive, V-ed
5.
If you cut across or through a place, you go through it because it is the shortest route to another place.
He decided to cut across the Heath, through Greenwich Park.
VERB: V across/through n
6.
If you cut something, you reduce it.
The first priority is to cut costs...
The UN force is to be cut by 90%.
...a deal to cut 50 billion dollars from the federal deficit.
= reduce
VERB: V n, V n by amount, V amount from/off n
•
Cut is also a noun.
The economy needs an immediate 2 per cent cut in interest rates.
...the government's plans for tax cuts.
N-COUNT: with supp, oft N in n
7.
If you cut a text, broadcast, or performance, you shorten it. If you cut a part of a text, broadcast, or performance, you do not publish, broadcast, or perform that part.
The audience wants more music and less drama, so we've cut some scenes.
VERB: V n
•
Cut is also a noun.
It has been found necessary to make some cuts in the text.
N-COUNT
8.
To cut a supply of something means to stop providing it or stop it being provided.
They used pressure tactics to force them to return, including cutting food and water supplies.
VERB: V n
•
Cut is also a noun.
The strike had already led to cuts in electricity and water supplies in many areas.
N-COUNT: with supp, usu N in n
9.
If you cut a pack of playing cards, you divide it into two.
Place the cards face down on the table and cut them.
VERB: V n
10.
When the director of a film says 'cut', they want the actors and the camera crew to stop filming.
CONVENTION
11.
When a singer or band cuts a CD, they make a recording of their music.
She eventually cut her own album.
VERB: V n
12.
When a child cuts a tooth, a new tooth starts to grow through the gum.
Many infants do not cut their first tooth until they are a year old.
VERB: V n
13.
If a child cuts classes or cuts school, they do not go to classes or to school when they are supposed to. (mainly AM)
Cutting school more than once in three months is a sign of trouble.
= skip
VERB: V n
14.
If you tell someone to cut something, you are telling them in an irritated way to stop it. (mainly AM INFORMAL)
Why don't you just cut the crap and open the door.
VERB: V n [feelings]
15.
A cut of meat is a piece or type of meat which is cut in a particular way from the animal, or from a particular part of it.
Use a cheap cut such as spare rib chops.
N-COUNT: with supp
16.
Someone's cut of the profits or winnings from something, especially ones that have been obtained dishonestly, is their share. (INFORMAL)
The lawyers, of course, take their cut of the little guy's winnings.
= share
N-SING: oft poss N
17.
A
cut is a narrow valley which has been cut through a hill so that a road or railroad track can pass through. (
AM; in BRIT, use cutting
)
N-COUNT
18.
19.
If you say that someone or something is a cut above other people or things of the same kind, you mean they are better than them. (INFORMAL)
Joan Smith's detective stories are a cut above the rest.
PHRASE: v-link PHR n
20.
If you say that a situation or solution is cut and dried, you mean that it is clear and definite.
Unfortunately, things cannot be as cut and dried as many people would like...
We are aiming for guidelines, not cut-and-dried answers.
= clear-cut
PHRASE: v-link PHR, PHR n
21.
If you say that someone can't cut it, you mean that they do not have the qualities needed to do a task or cope with a situation. (INFORMAL)
He doesn't think English-born players can cut it abroad.
PHRASE: usu with broad neg
22.
If you talk about the cut and thrust of an activity, you are talking about the aspects of it that make it exciting and challenging.
...cut-and-thrust debate between two declared adversaries.
PHRASE
23.
If you say that something cuts both ways, you mean that it can have two opposite effects, or can have both good and bad effects.
This publicity cuts both ways. It focuses on us as well as on them.
PHRASE: V inflects
24.
to cut something
to the bone: see
bone
to
cut someone
to the quick: see
quick
to
cut a long story short: see
story
to
cut your
teeth on something
: see
tooth