cut up

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cut up (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.

   With a little practice, you can cut up a whole chicken yourself for frying.

   • 1946 January and February, “Notes and News: Locomotive Notes: G.W.R.”, in Railway Magazine, page 55:

     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.

3. (transitive, informal) To lacerate; to wound by multiple lacerations; to injure or damage by cutting, or as if by cutting.

   The attackers cut him up pretty bad.

4. (transitive, idiomatic) To distress mentally or emotionally.
   • 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, […], →OCLC:

     And even Scrooge was not so dreadfully cut up by the sad event […]

5. (transitive, idiomatic, dated) To severely criticize or censure; to subject to hostile criticism.

   The reviewer cut up the book mercilessly.

   • 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, →OCLC:

     “I didn’t mean any offence—beg pardon—hang it, you cut up quite savage,” said Pen’s astonished interlocutor.

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.

   We need to talk about Johnny's tendency to cut up in class.

   • 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, →OCLC, page 28:

     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.

7. (transitive, idiomatic, British, Ireland) To move aggressively in front of another vehicle while driving.

   Synonym: (US) cut off

   • 2005, Richard Hunter, Righteous Indignation: Driving Psychology, AuthorHouse, →ISBN, page 42:

     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.

   • 2006, Jane M. Ussher, Managing the Monstrous Feminine: Regulating the Reproductive Body, Routledge, →ISBN, page 170:

     The third gave an account of losing her temper in traffic, after being cut up by another driver, then bursting into tears.

   • a. 2007, “Jones” (former police officer; possible pseudonym), quoted in Tom Rennie, Governors, Guns and Money, Lulu.com, →ISBN, page 78:

     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.

8. (intransitive) To disintegrate; to break into pieces.
   • 2012 May 9, Jonathan Wilson, “Europa League: Radamel Falcao's Atlético Madrid rout Athletic Bilbao”, in the Guardian‎:

     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.

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.
   • 1848, William Makepeace Thackery, The History of Pendennis:

     When I die, may I cut up as well as Morgan Pendennis.

10. (informal, motor racing) Comprise a particular selection of runners.

    The race has cut up badly with no real opposition to "Serendipity".

cut up (comparative more cut up, superlative most cut up)

1. Having been cut into smaller pieces.

   Put the cut up vegetables in the pot.

2. Wounded with multiple lacerations.

   He is cut up pretty bad.

3. (idiomatic, UK, Australia) Emotionally upset; mentally distressed.

   She was seriously cut up over her dog disappearing.

4. (informal) Muscular and lean.

   I go to the gym to get stronger and cut up.

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