I. cut up phrasal verb ( see also ↑ cut )
1 . CUT INTO PIECES cut something ↔ up to cut something into small pieces:
Could you cut the pizza up, please?
cut something ↔ up into
He cut the paper up into little pieces.
2 . DRIVING cut somebody/something ↔ up British English to suddenly drive in front of a moving vehicle in a dangerous way:
Some idiot cut me up on the motorway.
3 . BEHAVE BADLY American English informal to behave in a noisy or rude way
4 . cut up rough British English informal to react in an angry or violent way:
Careful how you approach him – he can cut up a bit rough if he’s got a mind to.
5 . CRITICIZE cut somebody ↔ up informal to criticize someone in an unpleasant way
⇨ ↑ cut up
II. ˌcut ˈup BrE AmE , cut-up adjective [not before noun]
1 . informal very upset about something that has happened
cut up about
He was very cut up about Stephen dying.
2 . be badly cut up to have a lot of injuries because you have been in an accident or fight