[232]

Curious. To do curious, verbal phr. (common).—To act strangely.

Curl. Out of curl, adv. phr. (common).—Out of sorts; out of condition.

To curl up, verbal phr. (familiar).—To be silent; to ‘shut up.’

To curl one’s hair, verb. phr. (common).—To administer chastisement; to ‘go for’ one.

To curl one’s liver or to have one’s liver curled, verbal phr. (common).—To make one feel intensely. Cf., Turn the liver (q.v.).

1877. S. L. Clemens (‘Mark Twain’), Life on the Mississippi, pp. 414–415. This is sport that makes the body’s very liver curl with enjoyment.

Curle, subs. (old).—Clippings of money.—Grose.

Curl Paper, subs. (common).—Paper for the W.C.; toilet paper; ‘wipe-bummatory’ (Urquhart), or ‘sanitary’ paper; bum-fodder; bumf; ammunition.

Curlycues or Carlicues, subs. (common).—Fantastic ornaments worn on the person or used in architecture; also, by implication, a strange line of conduct. Used by Burns in The Merry Muses.

1858. Home Journal, 24 July. Architects have a wonderful predilection for all manner of curlycues and breaks in your roof.

Currants and Plums, subs. phr. (rhyming slang).—A threepenny bit; or thrums (q.v.).

Currency, subs. (Australian).—A colonist born in Australia, those of English birth being sterling (q.v.). [In allusion to the colonial and home mintages, which, identical in value, present one or two strongly marked points of difference.]

1856. C. Reade, Never Too Late, ch. lxxxv. When gold was found in Victoria he crossed over to that port and robbed. One day he robbed the tent of an old man, a native of the colony, who was digging there with his son, a lad of fifteen. Now these currency lads are very sharp and determined.

Curse. Not to care or be worth a curse, phr. (common).—To care or be worth little—or nothing at all. [Curse may either = (1) the wild cherry; or (2) a corruption of A.S. cerse, watercress. Cf., Continental (q.v.).

1362. William Langland, Vision of Piers Ploughman. Wisdom and witt nowe is not worth a kerse, But if it be carded with cootis as clothers Kemble their woole.

1838. Dickens, Nicholas Nickleby, ch. xvi., p. 124. With regard to such questions … which one can’t be expected to care a curse about.

187(?). G. R. Sims, Dagonet Ballads (In the Workhouse). I care not a curse for the guardians.

Curse of God, subs. phr. (old).—A cockade.—Lexicon Balatronicum [1811].

Curse of Scotland, subs. phr. (popular).—The nine of diamonds. [The suggested derivations are inconclusive. The locution has nothing to do with Culloden and the Duke of Cumberland, for the card was nicknamed the justice-clerk, in allusion to the Lord Justice-Clerk Ormistone, who, for his severity in suppressing the [233]Rebellion of 1715, was called the Curse of Scotland. Other suggestions are: (1) That it is derived from the game of Pope Joan, the nine of diamonds there being called the ‘pope,’ of whom the Scotch have always stood in horror. (2) The word ‘curse’ is a corruption of cross, and the nine of diamonds is so arranged as to form a St. Andrew’s Cross. (3) That it refers to the arms of Dalrymple, Earl of Stair (viz., or, on a saltire azure, nine lozenges of the field), who was held in abhorrence for the Massacre of Glencoe; or to Colonel Packer, who attended Charles I. on the scaffold, and had for his arms nine lozenges conjoined, or in the heraldic language, Gules, a cross of lozenges. These conflicting views were discussed at length in Notes and Queries, 1 S., i., 61, 90; iii., 22, 253, 423, 483; v., 619; 3 S., xii., 24, 96; 4 S., vi., 194, 289; also, see Chambers’ Encyclopædia.]

1791. Gent. Mag., vol. LXI., p. 141. The Queen of Clubs is … called Queen Bess … The Nine of Diamonds, the curse of Scotland.

Cursitor or Cursetor, subs. (old).—A low tramp or vagabond. [Properly, a cursitor (unde Cursitor Street, in Chancery Lane) was a clerk in the Court of Chancery, whose business was to make out original writs; also a courier or runner. From the Latin.]

Curtain-Raiser, subs. (theatrical).—A short ‘piece’ to bring up the curtain and play in the house. Fr., lever de rideau.

1889. Daily News, 2 Sept., p. 3, col. 4. Miss Grace Hawthorne is about to try an original experiment in what are known as curtain-raisers.

Curtall or Curtail, subs. (old).—A vagabond and thief.—See quots.

1560. John Awdeley, Fraternitye of Vacabondes (1869. English Dialect Society’s Reprint), p. 4. A curtall is much like to the Vpright man, but hys authority is not fully so great. He vseth commonly to go with a short cloke, like to grey Friers, and his woman with him in like liuery, which he calleth his altham if she be hys.

1785. Grose, Dict. Vulg. Tongue. Curtails: thieves who cut off pieces of stuff hanging out of shop windows; the tails of women’s gowns, etc.; also thieves wearing short jackets.

Verb (old).—To cut off. Originally a cant word—vide Hudibras, and Bacchus and Venus, 1737.

Cuse, subs. (Winchester College).—A book in which a record is kept of the ‘marks’ in each division: its name to dons is ‘classicus paper’; also used for the weekly order.

Cushion, verb (thieves’).—To hide or conceal. Variants are, stall off; stow; slum. Sp., Hacer la agachadiza = to hide oneself.

To deserve the cushion, verbal phr. (old).—On the birth of a child a man was said to deserve the cushion; i.e., the symbol of rest from labour.

Cushion-Smiter or -Thumper, subs. (common).—A clergyman. [Derivation obvious.] For synonyms, see Devil-dodger.

1843. Thackeray, Irish Sketch Book, ch. xx. For what a number of such loud nothings, windy, emphatic tropes and metaphors, spoken, not for God’s glory, but the preacher’s, will many a cushion-thumper have to answer!

1849. Thackeray, in Scribn. Mag., June, 1887, p. 686. Cushion-thumpers and High and Low Church extatics.

1889. Modern Society, 19 Oct., p. 1294, col. 1. On a recent occasion a [234]cushion-thumper received a challenge from the miserable sinner whom he so volubly denounced.

Cuss, subs. (American).—A man, cove, or cull. Generally, but not necessarily, disparaging. [Of uncertain derivation: may be either from ‘curse’ or from ‘customer.’] For synonyms, see Cove. Also see specific use in quot., 1883.

1883. Daily Telegraph, 25 July, p. 2, col. 1. I’ll give Tom his due, and say of him that for flumoxing a cuss (Custom House Officer) or working the weed, I don’t know any one he couldn’t give a chalk to and beat ’em.

1888. F. R. Stockton, Rudder Grange, ch. xii. The man that lives up this lane is a mean, stingy cuss, with a wicked dog, and it’s no good to go there.

Cussedness, subs. (American).—Generally in such phrases as ‘pure cussedness,’ the ‘cussedness of things,’ etc. Mischievousness, or resolution, or courage may be implied; but in the Coventry plays cursydnesse signified sheer wickedness and malignity.

18(?). Col. John Hay, Song of the Prairie Belle. Through the hot, black breath of the burnin’ boat Jim Bludsoe’s voice was heard, And they all had trust in his cussedness, And knowed he would keep his word.

1886. Detroit Free Press, Aug. A more mischievous boy never came under my observation. Pure cussedness was spread out all over him.

1888. … Mr. Potter of Texas (Ry. ed.), p. 122. The extraordinary belief he had of transatlantic blood-thirstiness, scalping, and general cussedness engendered by these books.

1890. Notes and Queries, 7 S., ix., 29 Mar., p. 244. To swear at something when ‘the cussedness of things’ manifests itself in any specially exasperating shape seems to be recognised as a necessity by a large majority of the adult male population of the globe.

1890. Pall Mall Gaz., 22 May, p. 4, col. 2. The cause of the difficulty is the pestilent cussedness of the working man.

Cuss Out, verb (common).—To talk down, to flummox by the lip (q.v.).

1881. New York Times, 18 Dec. [quoted in N. and Q., 6 S., v., 65]. He cussed that fellow out, i.e., he annihilated him verbally.

Customer, subs. (common).—A man; fellow; cove; cuss; or chap; with a certain qualification, e.g. An ‘ugly customer’ = a dangerous opponent; a queer customer = a suspicious person, one to be suspected; a ‘rum customer’ = an odd fish. For synonyms, see Cove.

1818. P. Egan, Boxiana, I., 19. Here … many an ugly customer has met with his match, and been frightened in his turn.

1854. Whyte Melville, General Bounce, ch. vi. Some of these good-looking young gentlemen are ‘ugly customers’ enough when their blood is up.

1870. London Figaro, 8 Oct. Customers would then know the kind of ‘customers’ of tradesmen with whom they had to deal.

Customhouse-Officer, subs. (common).—An aperient pill. [Because it effects a clearance.] Cf., Chimney-sweep.

Cut, subs. (common).—1. A stage or degree.

1835. Dickens, Sketches by Boz, p. 183. It looked so knowing, with the front garden, and the green railings, and the brass knocker, and all that—I really thought it was a cut above me.

1843. Dickens, Martin Chuzzlewit, ch. iv., p. 29. Any other man in the wide world, I am equal to; but Sylme is, I frankly confess, a great many cuts above me.

1851. Mayhew, London Labour and London Poor, vol. II., p. 123. He’s a cut above me a precious sight.

2. (popular).—A refusal to acknowledge acquaintance, or to associate, with another person.—See verbal sense. A cut direct [235]or dead cut is a conspicuous non-acknowledgment of an acquaintance.

1821. P. Egan, Tom and Jerry [ed. 1890], p. 55. His acquaintances were numerous, but they seldom lasted longer than a few days, when he made no hesitation in giving them the cut-direct.

1836. Marryat, Japhet, ch. lii. He was a noted duellist, had killed his three or four men, and a cut direct from any person was, with him, sufficient ground for sending a friend.

3. (theatrical).—Mutilation of the ‘book’ of a play, opera, etc.

1779. Sheridan, The Critic, Act ii., Sc. 2. Puff (speaking of the mutilation of his play): Hey, what the plague!—what a cut is here!

1883. Saturday Review, 21 April, p. 501, col. 2. Mr. Mackenzie had not only modified the energy of the orchestra, but had shortened the opera by some judicious cuts.

4. (general).—A snub or set-down. Cf., sense 2.

1876. Hindley, Life and Adventures of a Cheap Jack, p. 143. One of the greatest cuts I ever knew was once when a man was speaking of Chris. Newman and saying what a good sort he was, upon which the other said, ‘What do you mean by saying that? Why, d— me, sir, he never called for a bottle of champagne in his life!’

Adj. (old).—Tipsy; on the cut = on the spree. For synonyms, see Screwed.

1748. T. Dyche, Dictionary (5 ed.). Cut (a.) … also an epithet applied to one who is drunk, as, He is deeply cut, that is, he is so drunk, that he can neither stand nor go.

1830. Pierce Egan, Finish to Life in London, p. 214. Terry was terribly cut.

1848. Thackeray, Book of Snobs, ch. xli. I was so cut last night, old boy! Hopkins says to Tomkins (with amiable confidence).

1859. Punch, vol. XXXVII., p. 22. Our friend prone to vices you never may see, Though he goes on the Loose, or the cut, or the Spree.

Verb (old).—1. To talk.

1567. Harman, Caveat (1814), p. 66.

To cutte, to say.

To cut benle, to speake gentle.

To cut bene whydds, to speake or give good words.

To cutte quyer whyddes, to geue euil words or evil language.

1622. Head and Kirkman, The English Rogue. This Doxie Dell can cut bien whids, and drill well for a win.

1815. Scott, Guy Mannering, ch. xxviii. Meg’s true-bred; she’s the last in the gang that will start—but she has some queer ways, and often cuts queer words.

1834. W. H. Ainsworth, Rookwood, p. 230 (ed. 1864). Here I am, pal Peter; and here are my two chums, Rust and Wilder. Cut the whid.

1849. Thackeray, Pendennis, ch. ix. The infatuated young man went on cutting his jokes at the Admiral’s expense, fancying that all the world was laughing with him.

2. (colloquial).—To disown, ignore, or avoid associating with, a person. Sometimes to cut dead.—See Cut, subs., sense 2. An article in the Monthly Magazine for 1798 cites cut as a current peculiarity of expression, and says that some had tried to change it into ‘spear,’ but had failed.

1634. S. Rowley, Noble Souldier, Act ii., Sc. 1. Why shud a Souldier, being the world’s right arme, Be cut thus by the left, a Courtier?

1794. Gent. Mag., p. 1085. I no sooner learned he was at the ‘Black Bull’ than I determined to cut the old codger completely.

1811. Miss Austen, Sense and Sensibility, ch. xliv. That he had cut me ever since my marriage, I had seen without surprise or resentment.

1855. Thackeray, Newcomes, ch. xli. ‘You are angry with her because she cut you,’ growls Clive. ‘You know you said she cut you, or forgot you; and your vanity’s wounded.’

1864. G. A. Lawrence, Guy Livingstone, ch. viii. It was only a slight satisfaction to hear that she has utterly lost [236]sight of my rival, and promises to cut him dead the first time they meet.

1870. Daily News, 26 May, ‘Leader.’ The old Greeks dedicated an altar to the Unknown God, for fear of cutting some jealous but obscure deity through ignorance of his existence and attributes.

Also as verbal substantive, cutting.

1840. Mrs. Gore, The Dowager, ch. xiii. [On the Continent.] Every person’s place in Society is so definite … that except in cases of some enormous breach of propriety, no person once established can ever be expelled. Unless for cogent reasons, he could not have been there at all.… There is no talk of ‘cutting.’ Such an outrage would reflect on the perpetrator rather than on the person ‘cut.’ All the vulgar caprices consequent on a shifting state of society are unknown.

3. (general).—Also to cut and run, cut it, cut one’s lucky, cut one’s stick, cut off, cut away, etc. To depart more or less hurriedly and perforce. [Originally nautical—to cut the cable and run before the wind.] Cut over and cut away formerly bore precisely the same meanings. For synonyms, see Amputate and Skedaddle.

1570. Lambarde, Perambulation of Kent. Let me cut over to Watling Streete.

1593. Nashe, Countercuffe to Martin Junior, in wks., vol. I., p. 79. He came latelie ouer-sea into Kent, fro thence he cut ouer into Essex at Grauesende.

1678. C. Cotton, Scarronides, bk. IV., p. 86 (ed. 1725). Put on the Wings that used to bear ye, And cut away to Carthage quickly.

1841. Punch, vol. I., p. 51. Explain the philosophical meaning of the sentence. ‘He cut away from the crushers as quick as a flash of lightning thro’ a gooseberry bush.’

1857. Dickens, Little Dorrit, bk. I., ch. xxxi., p. 238. ‘I see precious well,’ said Mr. Tip, rising, ‘that I shall get no sensible or fair argument here to-night, and so the best thing I can do is to cut.’

1888. Rider Haggard, Mr. Meeson’s Will [in Illus. Lond. News, Summer Number], p. 2, col. 3. Off you go! and mind you don’t set foot in Pompadour Hall, Mr. Meeson’s seat, unless it is to get your clothes. Come, cut.

4. (trade).—To compete in business; to under-sell. A cutting trade is one where profits are reduced to a minimum. Also cut under.

1874. H. Mayhew, London Characters, p. 469. All agreed in referring their misery to the spirit of competition on the part of the masters—the same universal desire to cut under.

1883. L. Oliphant, Altiora Peto, II., xxiii., 78. So we dissolved partnership, and I went in with another chap, to work on some kind of principle, but Ned was all the time cutting under us by bringing out some new contrivance—he’s great on electricity, Ned is.

5. (common).—To excel.—See quot., 1853. Also cut out (q.v.).

1853. Wh. Melville, Digby Grand, ch. viii. There have been instances of the weaker sex … cutting down, from sheer nerve and determination, the bearded sons of Nimrod themselves.

1884. Referee, 13 April, p. 1, col. 4. George’s performance in the ten miles handicap at Stamford Bridge on Monday—51 min. 20 sec.—is hardly likely to be disturbed for a long time to come, unless he cuts himself.

6. (theatrical).—To strike out portions of a dramatic production, so as to shorten for representation. Cf., subs., sense 3.

7. (University).—To avoid; to absent oneself from. Thus, to cut lecture, to cut chapel, to cut hall, to cut gates are common phrases.

1794. Gentleman’s Mag., Dec., s.v.

1889. Whibley, In Cap and Gown, s.v.

Cut a Caper or Capers, verbal phr. (colloquial).—To play a trick or prank; to behave boisterously [237]or fantastically. [From cut, a verb of action, + caper (q.v.) a freakish proceeding or prank.] Cf., Cut didoes. Fr., battre un huit.

1602. Shakspeare, Twelfth Night, Act i., Sc. 3. Sir And. Faith, I can cut a caper.

c. 1626. Dick of Devonshire, in Bullen’s Old Plays, ii., 68. Pike, Could I shake those chaines off I would cutt capers: poore Dick Pike would dance though Death pip’d to him.

1712. Spectator, No. 324. Others are called the dancing-masters, and teach their scholars to cut capers by running swords through their legs.

1751. Smollett, Peregrine Pickle, ch. lxxxvii. He … hied him home to his bride, to communicate his happiness, cutting capers, and talking to himself all the way.

1780. Mrs. Cowley, The Belle’s Stratagem, Act iv., Sc. 1. Har. Why, isn’t it a shame to see so many stout, well-built young fellows, masquerading, and cutting courants here at home, instead of making the French cut capers to the tune of your cannon; or sweating the Spaniards with an English fandango?

1843. Dickens, Martin Chuzzlewit, ch. xx., p. 208. Jonas only laughed at this, and getting down from the coach-top with great alacrity, cut a cumbersome kind of caper in the road.

Cut a Dash, Splash, or Shine, verbal phr. (general).—To make a show; to attract attention through some idiosyncrasy of manner, appearance, or conduct. In the United States to cut a splurge or cut a swathe. Fr., flamber; faire du flafla; and faire flouer.

1771. Foote, Maid of Bath, I. But the squire does not intend to cut a dash till the spring.

1835. Haliburton, Clockmaker, 1 S., ch. xxii. Well, they cut as many shines as Uncle Peleg. One frigate they guessed would captivate, sink, or burn our whole navy.

1857. A. Trollope, Three Clerks, ch. xxxi. Gin and water was the ordinary tipple in the front parlour; and any one of its denizens inclined to cut a dash above his neighbours generally did so with a bottom of brandy.

1884. S. L. Clemens (‘M. Twain’), Huckleberry Finn, xxiii., 227. It would a made a cow laugh to see the shines that old idiot cut.

1885. G. A. Sala, in Daily Telegraph, 1 Sept., p. 5, col. 4. It is while they are in the land of the living that I should like to see the Australian Crœsuses spending their money. Why don’t they—to use a very vulgar but very expressive locution—cut a splash with their magnificent revenues?

Cut a Figure, verbal phr. (common).—To make an appearance, good or bad.

1759. Sterne, Tristram Shandy. vol. II., ch. ii. You will cut no contemptible figure in a metaphysic circle.

1766. Goldsmith, Vicar of Wakefield, ch. x. When Moses has trimmed them [the horses] a little, they will cut a very tolerable figure.

1839. Lever, Harry Lorrequer, ch. i. He certainly cut a droll figure.

Cut and Come Again, phr. (colloquial).—Plenty: i.e., if one cut does not suffice plenty remains to come at again.

1738. Swift, Polite Conv., dial. ii. I vow, ’tis a noble sir-loyn. Neverout. Ay; here’s cut and come again.

1821. Coombe, Dr. Syntax, tour III., ch. iv. Something of bold and new design Dug from the never-failing mine, That’s work’d within your fertile brain, Where all is cut and come again.

Subs. (venery).—The female pudendum.

Cut-Away, subs. (common).—A morning coat. [From comparison to a frock-coat, the lappets in front being ‘cut away.’] For synonyms, see Capella.

1866. London Miscellany, 5 Jan., p. 201. ‘London Revelations.’ He wore a Newmarket cutaway, with huge flaps and pockets monopolising the whole of the skirts, suggestive of being receptacles for plunder. [238]

1870. London Figaro, 8 June. It may be taken as an axiom that if a cutaway has been made for a fashionable man six feet high and broad in proportion, it will never sit nicely on the form of a wee little weaver of five feet two.

1889. Pall Mall Gaz., 29 Oct., p. 3, col. 1. Off flies the frock coat and the flowing necktie; on goes the little red bow and the seedy brown ‘cutaway.’

Cut or Cut up Didoes, Shindies, Shines, etc., verbal phr. (colloquial).—To play pranks or tricks; the same as cut capers.

18(?). Pickings from the Picayune, p. 147. This ’ere Frenchman has been cutting up didoes in my house now for several days; he aint sober onst a week, and breaks all my cheers and tables Mr. Recorder.

1851. New York Tribune, 10 April. Had the Free States been manly enough, true enough, to enact the Wilmot Proviso as to all present or future territories of the Union, we should have had just the same didoes cut up by the chivalry that we have witnessed, and with no more damage to the Union.

Cut Dirt (American), or Cut One’s Stick, Lucky, etc., verbal phr. (common).—To make off; to escape. To cut dirt is clearly an allusion to the throwing up of mud and dust by a horse’s hoofs in fast trotting. Originally, to cut one’s stick refers to the cutting of a staff from a hedge or tree on the occasion of a journey. Cut over and cut away, though vulgarly colloquial in the nineteenth, were in literary use in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. A curious and noteworthy parallel is found in Zechariah xi. 10, where the ‘cutting of a stick’ is described as the symbol of breaking a friendly covenant. Cut one’s stick is sometimes elaborated into amputate one’s mahogany (q.v.). Cut one’s lucky is a simple reference to a ‘lucky’ escape. A Latin equivalent of Cut one’s stick is to be found in Juvenal’s Collige sarcinulas (‘collect the bags’). For synonyms, see Amputate. To cut one’s lucky also signifies to die.

1829. Negro Song [quoted in S. J., and C., p. 287]. He jump up fo’ sartin—he cut dirt and run, While Sambo follow arter wid his ‘tum, tum, tum.’

1836. C. Dickens, Pickwick Papers (about 1827), p. 79 (ed. 1857). Hold still, sir; wot’s the use o’ runnin’ arter a man as has made his lucky, and got to t’other end of the Borough by this time.

1840. Dickens, Old Curiosity Shop, ch. xl. ‘And now that the nag has got his wind again,’ said Mr. Chuckster, rising in a graceful manner, ‘I’m afraid I must cut my stick.’

1841. Punch, vol. I., p. 136. He [James II.] is the only English sovereign who may be said to have amputated his bludgeon, which, if we were speaking of an ordinary man and not a monarch, we should have rendered by the familiar phrase of cut his stick.

1841. Comic Almanack, p. 278. As sune as ve arived at the sumat had a Werry hextensif vew off Prinse lewy a cuttin his unlukky, folowd by his folowers at Hi pressure spede.

1843. W. M. Thackeray, Lyra Hibernica. ‘The Battle of Limerick.’ … the best use Tommy made Of his famous battle blade, Was to cut his own stick from the Shannon shore.

1851–61. H. Mayhew, London Lab. and Lon. Poor, vol. I., p. 150. A man got me to go for some in a orchard, and told me how to manage; but I cut my lucky in a minute.

1853. Western Scenes. Now you cut dirt, and don’t let me see you here again for a coon’s age, you hear?

1855. J. Richardson, Recollections of Last Half Century, vol. II., p. 172. In less than half an hour he swallowed the whole undiluted contents of the bottle, and having done so cut his lucky, and retired.

ante 1871. Border Adventures, p. 231. Now, I say, old hoss, if you don’t hurry up and cut dirt like streak-lightnin’, this child goes arter you, and you look out for a windin’ sheet, you hear?

1880. Punch’s Almanack, p. 3. [239]

Cute, Cuterer, and Cutely, adj. and adv. (colloquial).—Sharp; clever; ‘fly to wot’s wot.’ [A corruption of acute.] Fr., avoir le nez creux. For synonyms, see Knowing. So also cuteness, the quality or character of being cute.

1748. T. Dyche, Dictionary (5 ed.). Cute (a): sharp, witty, ingenious, ready, etc.

1754. B. Martin, Eng. Dict. (2 ed.). Cute (a low word used instead of (Acute): witty.

1762. Foote, Orators, Act i. I did speechify once at a vestry concerning new lettering the church buckets, and came off cutely enough.

1765. Foote, Commissary, III. I did not know but they might be after, more cuterer now in catching their larning.

1768. Goldsmith, Good Natured Man, Act ii. Well, who could have thought so innocent a face could cover so much ’cuteness!

1768. Goldsmith, Good Natured Man, Act iv. Truly, madam, I write and indite but poorly. I never was ’cute at my learning.

1874. M. Collins, Frances, ch. xxxv. We can leave them to their own devices; they’re both pretty ’cute.

1884. C. Gibbon, By Mead and Stream, ch. xx. Dressed in the latest City fashion—for there is a City fashion, designed apparently to combine the elegance of the West end with a suggestion of superhuman ‘cuteness.’

Cut Fine, verbal phr. (common).—To narrow down to a minimum.

Cut In, verbal phr. (common).—To join in suddenly and without ceremony; to intrude, or chip in (q.v.). Also substantively.

1819. Scott, Bride of Lammermoor, ch. xxi. He was afraid you would cut in and carry off the girl.

1843. Dickens, Martin Chuzzlewit, ch. xxiv., p. 246. I advise you to keep your own counsel, and to avoid tittle-tattle, and not to cut in where you’re not wanted.

1849. Thackeray, Pendennis, ch. vii. ‘Most injudicious,’ cut in the Major.

1864. G. A. Lawrence, Guy Livingstone, ch. vi. Keeping all her after-supper waltzes for him religiously, though half the men in town were trying to cut in.

1883. Referee, 17 June, p. 7, col. 4. I am anxious to have a cut in and get a big advertisement for nothing.

1884. W. C. Russell, Jack’s Courtship, ch. v. ‘In short,’ cut in my uncle unceremoniously, ‘you have seen enough of Jack’s life to know something about it?’

Cut Into, verbal phr. (Winchester College).—Originally to hit one with a ‘ground ash.’ The office was exercised by Bible-clerks upon a ‘man’ kicking up a row when ‘up to books.’ Now generally used in the sense of to correct in a less formal manner than tunding (q.v.).

Cut It, verbal phr. (common).—To move off quickly; to run away, or cut dirt (q.v.). For synonyms, see Amputate and Skedaddle.

1885. Indoor Paupers, p. 36. Once a week we cut it From the workhouse gate.

Intj. phr. (common).—‘Cease!’ ‘Stow it!’ ‘Stash it!’—A forcible injunction to desist and be off. Also cut that! or simply cut!

1863. C. Reade, Hard Cash, II., 240. Then first he seemed to awake to his danger, and uttered a stentorian cry of terror, that rang through the night, and made two [unprofessional] of his three captors tremble. ‘Cut that,’ said Green [professional] sternly, ‘or you’ll get into trouble.’ Mr. Hardie lowered his voice directly.

Cut it Fat, verbal phr. (general).—To show off; to make a display; to ‘come it strong’; ‘put on side,’ or cut a dash (q.v.).

1835. Dickens, Sketches by Boz, p. 54. Gentlemen, in alarming waistcoats, [240]and steel watch-guards, promenading about, three abreast, with surprising dignity (or as the gentleman in the next box facetiously observes, ‘cutting it uncommon fat!’)

1841. Comic Almanack, ‘Christmas Fair.’ A goose, even tailors have, who cut it fat, And use the goose itself to get a flat.

1887. Baumann, Londonismen. ‘A slang ditty,’ p. v. But, there, it don’t matter, Since to cut it still fatter, By ’ook and by crook Ve’ve got up this book.

Cut Mutton, verbal phr. (old).—To partake of one’s hospitality. Cf., ‘to break bread’ with one.

1849. Thackeray, Pendennis, ch. xxxii. Bungay … hoped to have the pleasure of seeing both gents to cut mutton with him before long.

Cut Off One’s Head, verbal phr. (American political).—Used when an official’s term of office has come to an end through change of Government, or supercession in other ways. Also to decapitate and to behead.

1869. New York Herald, 5 Aug. ‘The axe,’ wrote a correspondent from Washington, ‘is still doing its bloody work, and heads are flying off in all directions. The clerks in the Treasury Department begin to feel anxious, as the work of decapitation will soon make an end of them also.’

1872. Daily Telegraph, 5 Jan. ‘Leader.’ At the commencement of any fresh Presidency, hundreds of Democratic employés have their heads cut off to make room for Republicans who, in their turn, will be decapitated when the Democrats get the upper hand again.

Cut of One’s Jib, subs. phr. (nautical).—The general appearance. [From the foremost sail of a ship, which is frequently indicative of a vessel’s character. A strange sail is judged by the cut of its jib.]

1833. Marryat, Peter Simple [ed. 1846], vol. I., ch. ii., p. 9. I axes you because I see you’re a sailor by the cut of your jib.

1835. Haliburton, Clockmaker, 3 S., ch. iv. For I seed by the cut of the feller’s jib that he was a preacher.

1836. Michael Scott, Cruise of the Midge (ed. 18), p. 363. Oh, I see—there is a smart hand, in the gay jacket there, who does not seem to belong to your crew—a good seaman, evidently, by the cut of his jib.

1881. Buchanan, God and the Man, ch. xvi. By the voice of you, by the rigs of you, and by the cut of your precious jib.

1884. W. C. Russell, Jack’s Courtship, ch. iii. My democratic wide-awake and the republican cut of my jib, said he looking down at his clothes.

Cut One’s Cart, verbal phr. (vagrants’)—See quot.

1851–61. H. Mayhew, London Lab. and Lon. Poor, vol. I., p. 339. I’ve seen them doze and sleep against the door. They like to be there before anyone cuts their cart (exposes their tricks).

Cut One’s Comb, verbal phr. (common).—To snub; to lower conceit.

1593. G. Harvey, Pierces Supererog., in wks. II., 283. Can … loue quench, or Zeale luke warme, or valour manicle, or, excellencie mew-vpp, or perfection geld, or supererogation combe-cutt itselfe?

1608. Middleton, Trick to Catch the Old One, IV., iv. To see ten men ride after me in watchet liveries, with orange-tawny caps,—’twill cut his comb, i’ faith.

ed. 1717. Ned Ward, wks. II., 302. If you prate one word more, I shall slice a sliver off your coxcomb, and teach you a little more manners before I’ve done with you.

1822. Scott, The Fortunes of Nigel, ch. ii. I will take my own time; and all the Counts in Cumberland shall not cut my comb.

Cut One’s Eyes, verbal phr. (thieves’).—To get suspicious.

Cut One’s Eye (or Wisdom) Teeth, verbal phr. (common).—To learn ‘what’s what.’ [A play [241]upon the word ‘eye,’ with an allusion to the canine teeth.]

Cut One’s Own Grass, verbal phr. (prison).—To get one’s own living. Cf., Paddle one’s own canoe.

Cut Out, verbal phr. (colloquial).—To debar; deprive of advantage; supersede. Cf., Cut, verb, sense 5. [Originally a nautical term; from cutting out a ship in an enemy’s port.]

1779. R. Cumberland, Wheel of Fortune, Act iv., Sc. 3. I suspect your heart inclines to Captain Woodville; and now he is come to England, I suppose I am likely to be cut out.

1856. C. Bronté, Professor, ch. iii. There’s Waddy—Sam Waddy—making up to her; won’t I cut him out?

1863. Hon. Mrs. Norton, Lost and Saved, p. 182. One woman has often cut another out, whose superiority, if dissected and analysed, would be found to be composed of the carriage that whirled her up to the door, the nimble footman who rapped at it, the soft carpet on the handsome staircase, the drawing-room to which it led, and the gilt stand full of geraniums, heliotropes, and roses in the curtained window.

1864. G. A. Lawrence, Guy Livingstone, ch. xxv. Here, as elsewhere, she pursued her favourite amusement, remorselessly. Fallowfield called it ‘her cutting out expeditions.’ She used to watch till a mother and daughter had, between them, secured a good matrimonial prize, and then employ her fascinations on the captured one.

Cut Out of, verbal phr. (common).—To ‘do,’ or be done, out of.

Cuts, subs. (tailors’).—Scissors. ‘Small cuts’ = button-hole scissors.

Cut Saucy.—See Saucy.

Cut Short. (Generally cut it short!) phr. (common).—A common injunction not to be prolix. For synonyms, see Stow it.

1852. Dickens, Bleak House, ch. lvii., p. 478. ‘Come, then!’ he gruffly cried to her, ‘You hear what she says. Cut it short, and tell her.’

1878. Jas. Payn, By Proxy, ch. xvi. Let us cut this short, Pennicuick. There is nothing more of importance to be said, and such talk is painful to both of us.

Cutter, subs. (old).—A robber; a bully. [From committing acts of violence like those ascribed to the Mohocks; or, from cutting purses. Cotgrave translates cutter (or swash-buckler) by balaffreux, taillebras, fendeur de naseaux. Coles has, ‘A cutter (or robber), gladiator, latro.’] This ancient cant word now survives in the phrase, ‘to swear like a cutter.’

c. 1589. Nashe, Month’s Mind, in wks., vol. I., p. 152. These like lustie cutters … aduentured to lay holde fast on our purses, and like strong theeues in deed proffered to robbe vs of all our monnie.

1633. Rowley, Match at Midn., O. Pl., vii., 353. He’s out of cash, and thou know’st, by cutter’s law we are bound to relieve one another.

1663. Abraham Cowley, The Cutter of Coleman St. [Title of play.]

1822. Scott, Fortunes of Nigel, ch. xxiii. Fifty thousand decuses, the spoils of five thousand bullies, cutters, and spendthrifts.

Cut the Line, Rope, or String, verbal phr. (thieves’).—To cut a story short; to stop yarning.—See Cave.

Cut the Painter, verbal phr. (nautical). 1. To decamp; make off—secretly and suddenly. For synonyms, see Amputate and Skedaddle.

2. To die.—See Aloft and Hop the twig. [242]

Cutting, verbal subs. and ppl. adj. (trade).—1. The process of underselling; synonymous with competition of the keenest kind.—See Cut, verb, sense 4.

1851–61. H. Mayhew, London Lab. and Lon. Poor, vol. I., p. 372. There is great competition in the trade, and much of what is called cutting, or one tradesman underselling another. Ibid., vol. II., p. 232. Those employers who seek to reduce the prices of a trade are known technologically as cutting employers, in contradistinction to the standard employers, or those who pay their workpeople, and sell their goods at the ordinary rates.

1863. Once a Week, vol. VIII., p. 552. At first sight it would seem that the poor men got a better article for less money than the rich and well-to-do classes; but a little inquiry into the method by which these cutting bakers ‘make things pleasant’ soon dissipate this seeming anomaly.

1863. Once a Week, vol. VIII., p. 179. If she is accustomed to frequent cutting shops, where the stock is periodically thrown into a state of convulsions in its efforts to sell itself off, of course she expects to be done.

2. (colloquial).—Disowning or ignoring a person.—See Cut, verb, sense 2.

1854. Aytoun and Martin, Bon Gaultier Ballads. ‘The Doleful Lay of the Honble. I. O. Uwins.’ Uselessly down Bond Street strutting, Did he greet his friends of yore: Such a universal cutting, Never man received before.

Cuttle or Cuttle Bung, subs. (old).—A knife used by cut-purses. [From Latin cultellus, a knife; unde, a cutlass.] For synonyms, see Chive.

1592. Greene, Second Part Conny-catching, in wks., vol. X., p. 3. And feeling if his cuttle boung were glibbe and of a good edge, went to this meale-man to enter combate hand to hand with his purse.

1599. Nashe, Lenten Stuffe (Harl. Misc., VI., 172). [He] unsheathed his cuttle-bong, and from the nape of the necke to the taile dismembered him.

1608. Dekker, Belman of London, in wks. (Grosart) III., 154. He that cuts the purse is called the Nip.… The knife is called a cuttle-bung.

1610. Rowlands, Martin Mark-all, p. 37 (H. Club’s Repr., 1874). A Roome Cuttle: a sword. A Cuttle bung: a knife to cut a purse.

Cutty-Eyed, adj. (thieves’).—Suspicious looking; leering.

Cut Up, verbal phr. (colloquial).—1. To run down; to mortify.

1759. Goldsmith, The Bee, No. 5, p. 390 (Globe ed.). The pack of critics, who probably have no other occupation but that of cutting up everything new.

1819. Shelley, Letter to Ollier, in Letters (Camelot), p. 309. I read the article.… I am glad, however, to see the Quarterly cut up, and that by one of their own people.

1874. Mortimer Collins, Frances, ch. xvii. The slashing writers who delight to cut up a book, especially if the author is a friend or a rival.

2. (common).—To come up; turn up; become; show up.

3. (thieves’).—To divide plunder; to share; to ‘nap the regulars.’ Cf., Cut up fat.

1779. R. Cumberland, Wheel of Fortune, Act iv., Sc. 3. Sir D. D. A gentleman, who trusts to servants in his absence, is sure to be cut up. Emily. Cut up! what’s that. Sir D. D. Why, ’tis a common phrase.

1870. J. K., Good Words, April. ‘The Nailmakers’ Lamentation.’ Now, what’s twelve shillings to cut up, To pay so many things.

1879. J. W. Horsley, in Macm. Mag., XL., 505. We had between sixty and seventy quid to cut up (share).

1880. G. R. Sims, How the Poor Live. These … were mostly ‘ramps,’ or swindles, got up to obtain the gate-money, and generally interrupted by circumstances arranged beforehand by those who were going to cut up the plunder.

4. (common).—To behave.

1856. T. Hughes, Tom Brown’s School-days, pt. I., ch. v. You see, a great deal depends on how a fellow cuts up, at first. If he’s got nothing odd about him, and answers straightforward, and holds his head up, he gets on. [243]

1883. Illust. London News, 12 May, p. 463, col. 2. Export again cut up wretchedly in the Burwell Stakes, which fell to Blue Glass, and one of the best of the American three-year-olds.

Cut up fat, verbal phr. (common).—To leave a large fortune. Cf., Cut up, sense 3.

1824. T. Hook, Sayings and Doings, 1 S., Danvers, p. 13 (‘Colburn’s Stand. Novels’). His property was immense … and few people ventured to guess … what he would cut up for.

1831. Disraeli, The Young Duke, bk. IV., ch. vii., p. 228 (ed. 1866). ‘You think him rich?’ ‘Oh, he will cut up very large,’ said the Baron.

1848. Thackeray, Book of Snobs, ch. vii. The old banker died in course of time, and to use the affectionate phrase common on such occasions, cut up prodigiously well.

1860. O. W. Holmes, The Professor at the Breakfast Table, xi., p. 351. In the midst of these kind expressions, the gentleman with the diamond, the Koh-i-noor, as we called him, asked in a very unpleasant sort of way, how the old boy was likely to cut up,—meaning what money our friend was going to leave behind.

1872. Civilian, 2 March. Time wears on, and old Stubbs pays the debt of nature, and cuts up splendidly. His colossal fortune is the making of his needy sons-in-law.

Cut up [rough, rusty, savage, stiff, ugly, etc.], verbal phr.—To become quarrelsome or dangerous.

1836. Dickens, Pickwick, ch. xliii., p. 377. ‘I’ll trouble you for the loan of five-and-twenty pound.’ ‘Wot good ’ull that do?’ inquired Mr. Weller. ‘Never mind,’ replied Sam. ‘P’raps you may ask for it five minits arterwards; p’raps I may say I von’t pay, and cut up rough.’

1849. Thackeray, Pendennis, ch. 1. I didn’t mean any offence—beg pardon—hang it! you cut up quite savage.

1855–7. W. M. Thackeray, Miscellanies, II., 272. It is true that Natty [Edward’s Julia’s younger brother] called many times in Pocklington Square, and complained to Edward that he, Nat, could neither see his Mar nor the Gurls, and that the old gent cut up uncommon stiff.

1864. A. Trollope, The Small House at Allington, ch. iv. She’s always talking of Lupex being jealous! if he was to cut up rough, you wouldn’t find it pleasant.

Cut up well, verb. phr. (venery).—To strip well; to be an engaging bed-fellow.

To be cut up (common).—To be vexed; hurt; dejected; sometimes simply cut. Formerly, to be in embarrassed circumstances.

1821. P. Egan, Tom and Jerry [ed. 1890], p. 60. But, owing to a combination of unfortunate circumstances, such as gambling, dissipation, etc., Jem is so cut up, that all his old pals have turned their backs upon him.

1846. Thackeray, V. Fair, vol. I., ch. xxv. ‘I should have liked to see the old girl before we went,’ Rawdon said. ‘She looks so cut up and altered that I’m sure she can’t last long.’

1855. W. M. Thackeray, Newcomes, II., p. 201. It’s not when a fellow’s down and cut up, and riled,—naturally riled—as you are,—I know you are, Marquis; it’s not then that I’m going to be angry with you.…

1864. Glasgow Herald, 28 Dec. Not a word was said. I felt confoundly cut, and every mouthful of that dinner felt as if it would choke me.

Cutty, subs.—A short pipe; a nose-warmer, (q.v.).

Cuz, subs. (printers’).—A workman free of the ‘chapel.’

Cymbal, subs. (thieves’).—A watch. For synonyms, see Ticker.