cutup

plural cutups · alternative cut-up

1. Someone who cuts up; someone who acts boisterously or clownishly, for example, by playing practical jokes.

   Near-synonyms: class clown; good-time Charlie; prankster

   3 more examples

   'I think I should mention, Candy,' said Mrs. Chasen, 'that Harold does has his eccentric moments.' 'Oh, yes!' said Candy, finally comprehending. 'That's all right. I've got a brother who's a real cut-up too.'

   1971, Collin Higgins, Harold and Maude, page 47

   Jeff (Daniel Eric Gold), who has whittled his academic pursuits to one course at his local community college, is the Philosopher; his best friend, Tim (Peter Scanavino), a Navy veteran, is the Combustible Alcoholic, and Buff (Mr. Culkin), a stoner skateboarder, is the Cut-Up.

   2006 September 29, Ben Brantley, “Bogosian’s Youthful Rage and Alienation, Retrofitted for BlackBerries”, in New York Times

   Although Dek can be a cutup, his explanation for his obsessive search for the truth — “It was about respect” — reveals the bedrock of decency that makes him a seriously good guy.

   2009 January 25, Marilyn Stasio, “A Need for Noir”, in New York Times

   Synonyms: class clown, good-time Charlie, prankster

2. literatureA work produced by the aleatory literary technique of cutting up and rearranging a written text to create a new text.

   Jeff Lawton's Truck Stop (1969), which read like a William Burroughs cut-up novel and was printed in a skewed, rotated, and oddly spaced type.

   2001, Susan Stryker, Queer Pulp, page 118