/kut"bak'/ , n.
1. a reduction in rate, quantity, etc.: a cutback in production.
2. a return in the course of a story, motion picture, etc., to earlier events.
3. Football. a play in which the ball-carrier abruptly reverses direction, esp. by starting to make an end run and then turning suddenly to run toward the middle of the line.
4. a maneuver in surfing of heading the surfboard back toward a wave's crest.
[ 1895-1900; n. use of v. phrase cut back ]