cut out
English
Pronunciation
Audio (AU): (file)
Verb
cut out (third-person singular simple present cuts out, present participle cutting out, simple past and past participle cut out)
- Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see cut, out. To separate into parts with or as if with a sharp-edged instrument; sever.
- Cut out the letters and paste them on the poster.
- (transitive) To refrain from (doing something, using something etc.), to stop/cease (doing something).
- He had to cut out smoking in order to be prepared for the marathon
- She kept clicking her heels. He told her to cut it out.
- 1906, Princeton Alumni Weekly (volume 7, page 210)
- Hockey is an exciting and healthful form of exercise, well suited to college students, but if it is to retain favor the intercollegiate league should cut out the muckerism which has attended its contests on the ice in recent years.
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- (transitive) To remove, omit.
- If we cut out the middle-man, we will both have better profits.
- (transitive) To oust, to replace.
- (transitive) To separate from a herd.
- The cowboy cut out the unbranded heifers.
- (intransitive) To stop working, to switch off; (of a person on the telephone etc.) to be inaudible, be disconnected.
- It was around then that the engine suddenly cut out.
- Can you say that again? You keep cutting out.
- (intransitive) To leave suddenly.
- He must have cut out of the party.
- (usually in passive) To arrange or prepare.
- He has his work cut out for him.
- (transitive) To intercept.
- 2011 January 12, Saj Chowdhury, “Liverpool 2 - 1 Liverpool”, in BBC[1]:
- As lax as the visitors' defence was, Blackpool's backline was solid. In the first half the Seasiders cut out final balls to Meireles, one of Liverpool's best players, on two occasions and after the break the brilliant Craig Cathcart got enough on his headed clearance to prevent Torres from planting into the net at the far post.
- (nautical) To take a ship out of a harbor etc. by getting between her and the shore.
Usage notes
- In all senses the object can come before or after out. If the object is a pronoun, it MUST come before out.
Translations
to separate into parts with or as if with a sharp-edged instrument; sever
refrain from (doing)
|
remove, omit
|
stop working, be disconnected
Adjective
cut out (comparative more cut out, superlative most cut out)
- (idiomatic, chiefly in the negative) Well suited; appropriate; fit for a particular activity or purpose.
- I'm not really cut out for camping outdoors. I'm allergic to mosquito bites.
- We've got our work cut out for us.
- Do you think he is cut out for the role of manager?
- 1946, Milton “Mezz” Mezzrow, Bernard Wolfe, “Don’t Cry, Ma”, in Really the Blues, New York, N.Y.: Random House, book 1 (1899–1923: A Nothin’ but a Child), page 3:
- I was cut out to be a jazzman the way the righteous are chosen for the church.
Translations
well suited for an activity
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See also
References
- “cut out”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.
- “be cut out for”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
Anagrams
Categories:
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- English phrasal verbs
- English phrasal verbs formed with "out"
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- English intransitive verbs
- English terms with quotations
- en:Nautical
- English adjectives
- English idioms
- English negative polarity items
- English phrasal verbs with particle (out)