cut out

present singular third person cuts out · participle present cutting out

1. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see cut, out. To sever from something larger, with or as if with a sharp-edged instrument.

   Cut out the letters and paste them on the poster.

2. informaltransitiveTo refrain from (doing something, using something etc.), to stop or cease (doing something).

   She kept clicking her heels. He told her to cut it out.

   4 more examples

   He had to cut out smoking in order to be prepared for the marathon.

   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.

   1906, Princeton Alumni Weekly, volume 7, page 210

   “Cut that joshing out,” she said, coolly and briskly. “Who do you think you are talking to? Your check, please. Oh, Lordy!—”

   1910, O. Henry [pseudonym; William Sydney Porter], “The Girl and the Habit”, in Strictly Business: More Stories of the Four Million, New York, N.Y.: Doubleday, Page & Company, →OCLC

   I have no wind, if you want to know the truth. I'm quite a heavy smoker, for one thing — that is, I used to be. They made me cut it out.

   1951 July 16, J[erome] D[avid] Salinger, The Catcher in the Rye, Boston, Mass.: Little, Brown and Company, →OCLC, page 8

3. transitiveTo remove; to omit.

   If we cut out the middle-man, we will both have better profits.

   1 more example

   Help me find a sharper knife I need to cut you out my life

   2015 May 12, Rachel Platten, Jon Levine, Scott Jacoby, “Congratulations”, in Fight Song, performed by Rachel Platten

4. transitiveTo oust; to replace.

   […] cut him out in the affections of his lady-love!

   1899, Lady's Realm, volume 5, page 172

5. AustraliaNew ZealandUSTo separate (an animal) from the herd.

   There was little fear that the navigator of the captured Osprey, the man who had lived in Chile and "cut out" cattle on the Carrum Plains, would prove lacking in knowledge of riding, seamanship, or Spanish customs.

   1874, Marcus Clarke, For the Term of His Natural Life, IV.2

6. intransitiveTo stop working, to switch off; (of a person on the telephone etc.) to be inaudible, be disconnected.

   Can you say that again? You keep cutting out.

   1 more example

   It was around then that the engine suddenly cut out.

7. intransitiveTo leave suddenly.

   He must have cut out of the party.

   1 more example

   'True. I told you to take it home with you. It's still there?' 'Yes, sir.... But I could cut out and be back under the hour—time to do these letters for the post.'

   1927, Ernest Bramah [pseudonym; Ernest Brammah Smith], Max Carrados Mysteries

8. usually passive voiceTo arrange or prepare.

   He has his work cut out for him.

9. transitiveTo intercept.

   1 more example

   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.

   2011 January 12, Saj Chowdhury, “Liverpool 2 - 1 Liverpool”, in BBC Sport, archived from the original on 16 Feb 2022

10. nauticalTo take a ship out of a harbor etc. by getting between her and the shore.
11. AustraliaintransitiveslangTo serve time in prison as an alternative to paying fines.
12. AustraliaNew ZealandTo spend (money).

    After the flicks, Les and I cut out what was left of the cone money on a milkshake.

    1963, Ronald Hugh Morrieson, The Scarecrow, Text Classics, published 2012, page 6

comparative more cut out · superlative most cut out

1. idiomaticWell suited; appropriate; fit for a particular activity or purpose.

   We've got our work cut out for us.

   3 more examples

   I'm not really cut out for camping outdoors. I'm allergic to mosquito bites.

   Do you think he is cut out for the role of manager?

   I was cut out to be a jazzman the way the righteous are chosen for the church.

   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