[-ING1.]
1. The action of the verb CUT, in various senses.
1398. Trevisa, Barth. De P. R., XVII. ii. (1495), 597. Wythout kyttynge or keruynge.
c. 1400. Lanfranc’s Cirurg., 150. It is necessarie a surgian to make hise kuttyngis & hisc brennyngis bi lenkþe of þe necke.
1590. Webbe, Trav., 21. There we staide to see the cutting or parting of the Riuer of Nilo … vpon the 25 of August.
1691. trans. Emilianne’s Frauds Romish Monks, 27. Some gests and cutting of Faces, wherein they oblige the Company to imitate them.
1692. Bentley, Boyle Lect., 63. This shuffling and cutting with atoms.
1700. T. Brown, trans. Fresny’s Amusem., 60. Those who live by Cutting of Purses.
1856. Miss Bird, Englishw. in Amer., 41. That extreme of civilisation vulgarly called ‘cutting’ is common.
1884. Hon. I. Bligh, in Lillywhite’s Cricket Annual, 5. His cutting and off-driving alike masterly.
b. The action of cutting down prices or underselling; also attrib., as cutting line, work. (colloq.)
1851. Mayhew, Lond. Labour. There is great competition in the trade, and much of what is called ‘cutting,’ or one tradesman underselling another. Ibid. (1861), III. 425/1. A man started as a grocer in the same street, in the ‘cutting’ line, and I had to compete with him.
1892. Pall Mall Gaz., 15 March, 2/1. This cutting work—competition gone mad I call it—is really a gigantic conspiracy against labour.
c. The separating of cattle from a herd; cf. CUT v. 56 d. Also attrib. U.S. and Austral.
1887. F. Francis, Saddle & Moccasin (Lentzner). I had been furnished with a trained cutting pony, reported to be one of the best in the valley.
1892. Lentzner, Australian Word-bk., 19. Cutting, separating cattle from a herd and lassoing them.
† 2. An intersection; also a section. Obs.
1598. Barret, Theor. Warres, V. i. 125. These two straight lines shall come to be cut, in the which cutting shall the Angle of the Bulwarke be.
1726. trans. Gregory’s Astron., I. 327. The Arcs of the cutting contain’d between two Parallels are equal.
3. concr. A piece cut off; esp. a shred made in preparing or trimming an object for use.
1382. Wyclif, 1 Kings xi. 31. And he seith to Jeroboam, Tak to thee ten kyttyngis.
1432–50. trans. Higden (Rolls), II. 449. Codrus … berenge as kyttenges of trees in his necke.
1626. Bacon, Sylva, § 667. The burning also of the cuttings of Vines, and casting them upon Land, doth much good.
1812. J. Smyth, Pract. Customs (1821), 110. 550 lbs. Cuttings of Losh Hides, value 3d. per lb.
1825. Lamb, Refl. Pillory. Dirty cuttings from the shambles at three-ha’pence a pound.
4. spec. A small shoot or branch bearing leaf-buds cut off a plant, and used for propagation.
1664. Evelyn, Kal. Hort. (1729), 222. Figs … will be propagated by their Suckers, Cuttings, and Layers.
1727. Bradley, Fam. Dict., s.v. Fierides, The Cuttings being planted in a natural Bed of Earth.
1881. Delamer, Fl. Gard., 76. The shrubby Calceolarias … are readily propagated by cuttings.
b. A paragraph or short article cut out of a newspaper, etc.
1856. N. & Q., 2nd Ser. I. 292. I am desirous of mounting a collection of newspaper cuttings.
1866. Athenæum, 24 Nov., 687/1. Hardly more comical than the following ‘cutting’ from the Boston Gazette.
5. Irish Hist. The levying of a tax or impost; tailage.
1596. Spenser, State Irel., Wks. (1862), 506/2. The Tanist hath … certaine cuttings and spendings upon all the inhabitants under the Lord.
1607. Davies, Lett. Earl Salisb., i. (1787), 222. Affirming that the Irish cutting was an usurpation and a wrong. Ibid. (1612), Why Ireland (1787), 127. These chiefries … did consist chiefly in cuttings and cosheries, and other Irish exactions.
1633. T. Stafford, Pac. Hib., ii. (1821), 232.
6. A figure produced by cutting; a carving, etc.
1787. Mad. D’Arblay, Diary, Sept. She gave me a cutting of my dearest Mrs. Delany … exquisitely resembling her fine venerable countenance.
1852. Motley, Corr. (1889), I. v. 139. Curious cuttings in wood and alabaster.
7. Mining. (See quots.)
1874. Knight, Dict. Mech., 668. Cutting, a poor quality of ore mixed with that which is better. Ibid., 669. Cuttings, the larger and lighter refuse which is detained by the sieve in the hotching tub, or hutch.
8. An open, trench-like excavation through a piece of ground that rises above the level of a canal, railway or road that has to be taken across it.
1836. Hull & Selby Railw. Act, 6. To construct … arches, cuttings and fences.
1838. Simms, Public Wks. Gt. Brit., 62. The railway is carried through this cutting.
1878. Huxley, Physiogr., 23, note. Some good geological sections may be seen in railway cuttings.
9. With adverbs. Also attrib.
c. 1380. Wyclif, Serm., Sel. Wks. I. 335. Þis kitting awei is clepid circumcisioun.
1469. Bury Wills (Camden), 46. Wythout any dystruccyon or kyttynge down of treis.
1687. Congreve, Old Bach., IV. ii. A delicious melon … only waits thy cutting up!
1812. Southey, Omniana, I. 83. Before the butcher’s phrase ‘cutting up’ was supposed to be synonymous with criticizing.
1840. Marryat, Poor Jack, xxxii. Virginia … superintended the cutting-out department.
b. Cutting-down line (Ship-building): a curved line forming the upper side of the floor-timbers at the middle-line, continued to the stem and stern over the dead-woods, and representing the curve on which the keelson lies; cutting-down, the curve or surface which this line represents.
1769. Falconer, Dict. Marine (1789), Cutting-down line, a curved line used by shipwrights in the delineation of ships.
c. 1850. Rudim. Navig. (Weale), 113. The cutting-down line is intended to represent, on the Sheer Draught, the limit of the depth of every floor-timber at the middle-line, and also the height of the upper part of the dead-wood afore and abaft. Ibid., 124. They are bolted … to the cutting-down of the knee. Ibid., 142. They must be deeper in the throat or at the cutting-down.
10. attrib. and Comb., as cutting line, work (see 1 b); cutting place, etc.; esp. in names of tools, etc., used in the process of cutting, as cutting-board, -burnisher, -compass, -engine, file, -gauge, -hook, -knife, -mill, -nipper, -plane, -plier, -press, -punch, -spade, -table, -tool, etc.; cutting-bed (Microscopy), a part of a microtome on which the cutting knife slides; cutting-bill, a bill for cutting wood; cutting-box, † (a) ? a chaff- or straw-cutter; (b) a receptacle for the diamond dust in diamond-cutting; cutting-brick = CUTTER sb.1 7; cutting-house, -room, a house or room where the cutting of clothing materials, meat, or other substances is done; † also a room where surgical operations are performed; cutting-pot, a pot used for the planting of cuttings; cutting service (Lawn Tennis), a service in which the player cuts the ball; cutting-shoe, a shoe specially constructed for horses that cut or interfere (see CUT v. 27).
1601. Holland, Pliny, I. 536. Able to beare the *cutting bill.
1771. Phil. Trans., LXI. 161. Other sorts [of trees] bear the woodman’s cutting-bill more kindly.
1825. Hone, Every-day Bk., I. 1081. It … furnishes shoemakers with their *cutting-boards.
1778. H. Herbert, Mil. Equitation, 136. Every troop ought to have a *cutting-box … and one man constantly employed … in chopping hay, straw, &c.
1816. J. Smith, Panorama Sci. & Art, I. 187. The finest kind of marl and red bricks are called *cutting bricks.
1874. Knight, Dict. Mech., *Cutting-compass, a compass, one of whose legs is a cutter, to make washers, wads, and circular disks of paper for other uses.
1825. J. Nicholson, Operat. Mechanic, 495. If both wheels are cut in the *cutting-engine by the same cutter.
1601. Holland, Pliny, I. 530. Some good husbands … with a *cutting hook (turning the edge vpward) fetch vp the eies budding out beneath.
1660. Pepys, Diary, 10 March. In the morning went to my father’s, whom I took in his *cutting house.
1664. Evelyn, Sylva (1776), 500. At the kerf, or *cutting-place near the root.
1684. Lond. Gaz., No. 1949/4. He hath rubbed the Hair in the cutting place behind.
1892. E. P. Dixon (Hull), Seed Catalogue, 30. A great acquisition for *cutting purposes.
1708. New View Lond., II. 763/2. The *Cutting Room … where they cut for the stone.
1874. Field, 8 Aug. Far better than a game run off by a *cutting service.
1711. Lond. Gaz., No. 4832/4. [A horse] shod with *cutting Shoes turn’d up the inside Web.
1883. Harper’s Mag., Feb., 443/2. I caught the young ragamuffin up on one of the *cutting-tables dancing away for dear life.
