cut
part of speech
verb (cut, cuts, cut, cutting); noun (a cut, cuts)
meaning for a pupil
1) To cut is to divide something or take a piece off with a knife or scissors. tree →
2) To cut is to make something shorter: «cut hair», «cut the grass». tree →
3) To cut down is to make less: «cut down on sugar». tree →
4) A cut is a small wound where the skin is opened. tree →
5) A cut is a piece or a part taken off, or a share of money: «my cut». tree →
6) A cut is a fall in an amount: «a price cut», «cuts to the budget». tree →
7) (casual) «Cut it out!» means stop it; «cut in» means push into a queue or interrupt; «didn't make the cut» means was not chosen. tree →
8) (rude) «Cut the crap» means stop talking nonsense; «cut» or «gutted» (UK) means very upset. tree →
9) (euphemism) «Job cuts» or «staff cuts» mean people lose their jobs. tree →
10) (formal) Exams say «divide into», «sever», «partition», «subdivide», «reduce» and «a reduction of». tree →
11) (informal) To cut someone loose means to set them free by cutting the ropes that tie them. tree →
sense in the lessons
to take a piece away, or to make equal pieces: «cuts off D» takes D away; «cuts into K equal pieces» divides by K; in crafts we cut paper shapes; phrases: «cut off», «cut out», «cut into», «cut in half», «cut down», «short cut», «price cut»; in casual talk «cut it out», «cut in line», «what's my cut?»; in rough talk «cut the crap, how many did you take?»; in the exam voice «a rope is partitioned into 4 segments of equal length», «a reduction of 20 per cent»
examples
- Ben cuts off 5 metres. tree →
- Mia cuts a 12-metre rope into 4 equal pieces. tree →
- Anna cut the cake into 8 slices. tree →
- Cut out the star shape carefully. tree →
- I cut my finger on the paper. tree →
- Cut the pizza in half. tree →
- We took a short cut through the field. tree →
- Cut it out, you two, or no TV! tree →
- Cut the crap, how many biscuits did you take? 3? tree →
- The shop cut its prices by 5 dollars. tree →
- A rope of a length of 12 metres is partitioned into 4 segments of equal length. Determine the length of each segment. tree →
- Many workers lost their jobs in the cuts. tree →
note
Past: cut (the same). «cuts off D» takes D away from the thing cut. «cuts into K equal pieces» divides the length by K. «partitioned into K equal segments» in an exam is the same. Trap: cutting a cake into 8 slices still means one cake. Trap: cutting a rope into K pieces needs K − 1 cuts. «a cut of 5 dollars» lowers the price by 5. Safety: carry scissors with the points down; tell an adult about a deep cut.
In the corpora
- While a parent is unemployed the family may claim benefits and cut spending; free fun like parks and libraries helps.
- Reality TV is real people in made-up situations, filmed for weeks and cut down into dramatic episodes.
- Fabric scissors are kept only for cloth, because cutting paper or card makes the blades blunt.
- Wild orangutans live only on Borneo and Sumatra and are critically endangered, largely because forests were cut down for palm oil farms.
- Leafcutter ants cut and carry leaves but do not eat them; they grow a fungus on chewed leaf paste and eat the fungus.
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «cut» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.