Definition of "cut up"

cut up

verb
third-person singular simple present cuts up, present participle cutting up, simple past and past participle cut up
1. (intransitive, literally) To cut upward.
2. (transitive) To cut into smaller pieces, parts, or sections.
  Quotations
  The locomotive involved in the derailment of the 4.33 a.m. train from Ruabon to Barmouth on the night of October 6, due to the bursting of the banks of the Shropshire Union Canal near Llangollen, was 2-6-0 No. 6315; the position into which the locomotive fell so completely defied all attempts to re-rail it that it was cut up on the spot.
  1946 January and February, “Notes and News: Locomotive Notes: G.W.R.”, in Railway Magazine, page 55
3. (transitive, informal) To lacerate; to wound by multiple lacerations; to injure or damage by cutting, or as if by cutting.
4. (transitive, idiomatic) To distress mentally or emotionally.
  Quotations
  And even Scrooge was not so dreadfully cut up by the sad event […]
  1843 December 19, Charles Dickens, “(please specify the page number)”, in A Christmas Carol. In Prose. Being a Ghost Story of Christmas, London: Chapman & Hall, […]
5. (transitive, idiomatic, dated) To severely criticize or censure; to subject to hostile criticism.
  Quotations
  “I didn’t mean any offence—beg pardon—hang it, you cut up quite savage,” said Pen’s astonished interlocutor.
  1848 November – 1850 December, William Makepeace Thackeray, chapter 51, in The History of Pendennis. […], volumes (please specify |volume=I or II), London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1849–1850
6. (intransitive, idiomatic) To behave like a clown or jokester (a cut-up); to misbehave; to act in a playful, comical, boisterous, or unruly manner to elicit laughter, attention, etc.
  Quotations
  I had been cutting up some caper or other—I think it was trying to crawl up the chimney, as I had seen a little sweep do a few days previous; and my stepmother who, somehow or other, was all the time whipping me, or sending me to bed supperless,—my mother dragged me by the legs out of the chimney and packed me off to bed, though it was only two o’clock in the afternoon of the 21st June, the longest day in the year in our hemisphere.
  1851 November 14, Herman Melville, chapter 4, in Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley, page 28
7. (transitive, idiomatic, Britain) To move aggressively in front of another vehicle while driving.
  Quotations
  If you are a victim of Road Rage, this normally means you may have inadvertently cut someone up on the road, or he may perceive that you have cut him up.
  2005, Richard Hunter, Righteous Indignation: Driving Psychology, AuthorHouse, page 42
  The third gave an account of losing her temper in traffic, after being cut up by another driver, then bursting into tears.
  2006, Jane M. Ussher, Managing the Monstrous Feminine: Regulating the Reproductive Body, Routledge, page 170
  One night coming home from work, I was driving through a quiet housing estate and had a driver cut me up. I had my window open, and mouthed some obscenity towards him.
  a. 2007, “Jones” (former police officer; possible pseudonym), quoted in Tom Rennie, Governors, Guns and Money, Lulu.com, page 78
8. (intransitive) To disintegrate; to break into pieces.
  Quotations
  The first match in the magnificent new national stadium was a Euro 2012 qualifier between Romania and France that soon descended into farce as the pitch cut up and players struggled to maintain their footing. Amorebieta at times seemed to be paying homage to that game, but nobody else seemed to have a problem; it was just that Falcao was far better than him.
  2012 May 9, Jonathan Wilson, “Europa League: Radamel Falcao's Atlético Madrid rout Athletic Bilbao”, in the Guardian‎
9. (slang, dated) To divide into portions well or badly; to have the property left at one's death turn out well or poorly when divided among heirs, legatees, etc.
  Quotations
  When I die, may I cut up as well as Morgan Pendennis.
  1848, William Makepeace Thackery, The History of Pendennis
10. (informal, motor racing) Comprise a particular selection of runners.
adjective
comparative more cut up, superlative most cut up
1. Having been cut into smaller pieces.
2. Wounded with multiple lacerations.
3. (idiomatic, UK, Australia) Emotionally upset; mentally distressed.
4. (informal) Muscular and lean.

Definition of "cut up"

cut up

verb

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adjective