(~s, ~ting)
Frequency: The word is one of the 700 most common words in English.
Note: The form '~' is used in the present tense and is the past tense and past participle.
1.
If you ~ something, you use a knife or a similar tool to divide it into pieces, or to mark it or damage it. If you ~ a shape or a hole in something, you make the shape or hole by using a knife or similar tool.
Mrs. Haines stood nearby, holding scissors to ~ a ribbon...
The thieves ~ a hole in the fence...
Mr. Long was now ~ting himself a piece of the pink cake...
You can hear the saw as it ~s through the bones.
...thinly ~ cucumber sandwiches.
VERB: V n, V n prep/adv, V n n, V through n, V-ed
•
Cut is also a noun.
The operation involves making several ~s in the cornea.
N-COUNT
2.
If you ~ yourself or ~ a part of your body, you accidentally injure yourself on a sharp object so that you bleed.
Johnson ~ himself shaving...
I started to cry because I ~ my finger...
Blood from his ~ lip trickled over his chin.
VERB: V pron-refl, V n, V-ed
•
Cut is also a noun.
He had sustained a ~ on his left eyebrow.
...~s and bruises.
N-COUNT
3.
If you ~ something such as grass, your hair, or your fingernails, you shorten them using scissors or another tool.
The most recent tenants hadn’t even ~ the grass...
You’ve had your hair ~, it looks great...
She had dark red hair, ~ short.
VERB: V n, have n V-ed, V-ed
•
Cut is also a noun.
Prices vary from salon to salon, starting at ?17 for a ~ and blow-dry.
N-SING
4.
The way that clothes are ~ is the way they are designed and made.
...badly ~ blue suits.
VERB: usu passive, V-ed
5.
If you ~ across or through a place, you go through it because it is the shortest route to another place.
He decided to ~ across the Heath, through Greenwich Park.
VERB: V across/through n
see also short ~
6.
If you ~ something, you reduce it.
The first priority is to ~ costs...
The UN force is to be ~ by 90%.
...a deal to ~ 50 billion dollars from the federal deficit.
= reduce
VERB: V n, V n by amount, V amount from/off n
•
Cut is also a noun.
The economy needs an immediate 2 per cent ~ in interest rates.
...the government’s plans for tax ~s.
N-COUNT: with supp, oft N in n
7.
If you ~ a text, broadcast, or performance, you shorten it. If you ~ a part of a text, broadcast, or performance, you do not publish, broadcast, or perform that part.
The audience wants more music and less drama, so we’ve ~ some scenes.
VERB: V n
•
Cut is also a noun.
It has been found necessary to make some ~s in the text.
N-COUNT
8.
To ~ a supply of something means to stop providing it or stop it being provided.
They used pressure tactics to force them to return, including ~ting food and water supplies.
VERB: V n
•
Cut is also a noun.
The strike had already led to ~s in electricity and water supplies in many areas.
N-COUNT: with supp, usu N in n
9.
If you ~ a pack of playing cards, you divide it into two.
Place the cards face down on the table and ~ them.
VERB: V n
10.
When the director of a film says ‘~’, they want the actors and the camera crew to stop filming.
CONVENTION
11.
When a singer or band ~s a CD, they make a recording of their music.
She eventually ~ her own album.
VERB: V n
12.
When a child ~s a tooth, a new tooth starts to grow through the gum.
Many infants do not ~ their first tooth until they are a year old.
VERB: V n
13.
If a child ~s classes or ~s school, they do not go to classes or to school when they are supposed to. (mainly AM)
Cutting school more than once in three months is a sign of trouble.
= skip
VERB: V n
14.
If you tell someone to ~ something, you are telling them in an irritated way to stop it. (mainly AM INFORMAL)
Why don’t you just ~ the crap and open the door.
VERB: V n feelings
15.
A ~ of meat is a piece or type of meat which is ~ in a particular way from the animal, or from a particular part of it.
Use a cheap ~ such as spare rib chops.
N-COUNT: with supp
16.
Someone’s ~ of the profits or winnings from something, especially ones that have been obtained dishonestly, is their share. (INFORMAL)
The lawyers, of course, take their ~ of the little guy’s winnings.
= share
N-SING: oft poss N
17.
A ~ is a narrow valley which has been ~ through a hill so that a road or railroad track can pass through. (AM; in BRIT, use ~ting )
N-COUNT
18.
see also ~ting
19.
If you say that someone or something is a ~ above other people or things of the same kind, you mean they are better than them. (INFORMAL)
Joan Smith’s detective stories are a ~ above the rest.
PHRASE: v-link PHR n
20.
If you say that a situation or solution is ~ and dried, you mean that it is clear and definite.
Unfortunately, things cannot be as ~ and dried as many people would like...
We are aiming for guidelines, not ~-and-dried answers.
= clear-~
PHRASE: v-link PHR, PHR n
21.
If you say that someone can’t ~ it, you mean that they do not have the qualities needed to do a task or cope with a situation. (INFORMAL)
He doesn’t think English-born players can ~ it abroad.
PHRASE: usu with broad neg
22.
If you talk about the ~ and thrust of an activity, you are talking about the aspects of it that make it exciting and challenging.
...~-and-thrust debate between two declared adversaries.
PHRASE
23.
If you say that something ~s both ways, you mean that it can have two opposite effects, or can have both good and bad effects.
This publicity ~s both ways. It focuses on us as well as on them.
PHRASE: V inflects
24.
to ~ something to the bone: see bone
to ~ corners: see corner
to ~ the mustard: see mustard
to ~ someone to the quick: see quick
to ~ a long story short: see story
to ~ your teeth on something : see tooth