What is to cut up

To cut up

Up \Up\ ([u^]p), adv. [AS. up, upp, [=u]p; akin to OFries. up, op, D. op, OS. [=u]p, OHG. [=u]f, G. auf, Icel. & Sw. upp, Dan. op, Goth. iup, and probably to E. over. See Over.]

Aloft; on high; in a direction contrary to that of gravity; toward or in a higher place or position; above; -- the opposite of down.

But up or down, By center or eccentric, hard to tell.
--Milton.
Hence, in many derived uses, specifically:
1. From a lower to a higher position, literally or figuratively; as, from a recumbent or sitting position; from the mouth, toward the source, of a river; from a dependent or inferior condition; from concealment; from younger age; from a quiet state, or the like; -- used with verbs of motion expressed or implied.
  
  But they presumed to go up unto the hilltop.
  --Num. xiv. 44.
  
  I am afflicted and ready to die from my youth up.
  --Ps. lxxxviii. 15.
  
  Up rose the sun, and up rose Emelye.
  --Chaucer.
  
  We have wrought ourselves up into this degree of Christian indifference.
  --Atterbury.
2. In a higher place or position, literally or figuratively; in the state of having arisen; in an upright, or nearly upright, position; standing; mounted on a horse; in a condition of elevation, prominence, advance, proficiency, excitement, insurrection, or the like; -- used with verbs of rest, situation, condition, and the like; as, to be up on a hill; the lid of the box was up; prices are up.
  
  And when the sun was up, they were scorched.
  --Matt. xiii. 6.
  
  Those that were up themselves kept others low.
  --Spenser.
  
  Helen was up -- was she?
  --Shak.
  
  Rebels there are up, And put the Englishmen unto the sword.
  --Shak.
  
  His name was up through all the adjoining provinces, even to Italy and Rome; many desiring to see who he was that could withstand so many years the Roman puissance.
  --Milton.
  
  Thou hast fired me; my soul's up in arms.
  --Dryden.
  
  Grief and passion are like floods raised in little brooks by a sudden rain; they are quickly up.
  --Dryden.
  
  A general whisper ran among the country people, that Sir Roger was up.
  --Addison.
  
  Let us, then, be up and doing, With a heart for any fate.
  --Longfellow.
3. To or in a position of equal advance or equality; not short of, back of, less advanced than, away from, or the like; -- usually followed by to or with; as, to be up to the chin in water; to come up with one's companions; to come up with the enemy; to live up to engagements.
  
  As a boar was whetting his teeth, up comes a fox to him.
  --L'Estrange.
4. To or in a state of completion; completely; wholly; quite; as, in the phrases to eat up; to drink up; to burn up; to sum up; etc.; to shut up the eyes or the mouth; to sew up a rent.
  
  Note: Some phrases of this kind are now obsolete; as, to spend up (
  --Prov. xxi. 20); to kill up (
  --B. Jonson).
5. Aside, so as not to be in use; as, to lay up riches; put up your weapons. Note: Up is used elliptically for get up, rouse up, etc., expressing a command or exhortation. ``Up, and let us be going.'' --Judg. xix. 28. Up, up, my friend! and quit your books, Or surely you 'll grow double. --Wordsworth. It is all up with him, it is all over with him; he is lost. The time is up, the allotted time is past. To be up in, to be informed about; to be versed in. ``Anxious that their sons should be well up in the superstitions of two thousand years ago.'' --H. Spencer. To be up to.
  1. To be equal to, or prepared for; as, he is up to the business, or the emergency. [Colloq.]
  2. To be engaged in; to purpose, with the idea of doing ill or mischief; as, I don't know what he's up to. To blow up.
    1. To inflate; to distend.
    2. To destroy by an explosion from beneath.
  3. To explode; as, the boiler blew up.
  4. To reprove angrily; to scold. [Slang] To bring up. See under Bring, v. t. To come up with. See under Come, v. i. To cut up. See under Cut, v. t. & i. To draw up. See under Draw, v. t. To grow up, to grow to maturity. Up anchor (Naut.), the order to man the windlass preparatory to hauling up the anchor. Up and down.
    1. First up, and then down; from one state or position to another. See under Down, adv.
      
      Fortune . . . led him up and down.
      --Chaucer.
    2. (Naut.) Vertical; perpendicular; -- said of the cable when the anchor is under, or nearly under, the hawse hole, and the cable is taut.
      --Totten.
      
      Up helm (Naut.), the order given to move the tiller toward the upper, or windward, side of a vessel.
      
      Up to snuff. See under Snuff. [Slang]
      
      What is up? What is going on? [Slang]

To cut up

Cut \Cut\ (k[u^]t), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Cut; p. pr. & vb. n. Cutting.] [OE. cutten, kitten, ketten; prob. of Celtic origin; cf. W. cwtau to shorten, curtail, dock, cwta bobtailed, cwt tail, skirt, Gael. cutaich to shorten, curtail, dock, cutach short, docked, cut a bobtail, piece, Ir. cut a short tail, cutach bobtailed. Cf. Coot.]

To separate the parts of with, or as with, a sharp instrument; to make an incision in; to gash; to sever; to divide.

You must cut this flesh from off his breast.
--Shak.

Before the whistling winds the vessels fly, With rapid swiftness cut the liquid way.
--Pope.
To sever and cause to fall for the purpose of gathering; to hew; to mow or reap.

Thy servants can skill to cut timer.
--2. Chron. ii. 8
To sever and remove by cutting; to cut off; to dock; as, to cut the hair; to cut the nails.
To castrate or geld; as, to cut a horse.
To form or shape by cutting; to make by incision, hewing, etc.; to carve; to hew out.

Why should a man. whose blood is warm within, Sit like his grandsire cut in alabaster?
--Shak.

Loopholes cut through thickest shade.
--Milton.
To wound or hurt deeply the sensibilities of; to pierce; to lacerate; as, sarcasm cuts to the quick.

The man was cut to the heart.
--Addison.
To intersect; to cross; as, one line cuts another at right angles.
To refuse to recognize; to ignore; as, to cut a person in the street; to cut one's acquaintance. [Colloq.]
To absent one's self from; as, to cut an appointment, a recitation. etc. [Colloq.]

An English tradesman is always solicitous to cut the shop whenever he can do so with impunity.
--Thomas Hamilton.
(Cricket) To deflect (a bowled ball) to the off, with a chopping movement of the bat.
(Billiards, etc.) To drive (an object ball) to either side by hitting it fine on the other side with the cue ball or another object ball.
(Lawn Tennis, etc.) To strike (a ball) with the racket inclined or struck across the ball so as to put a certain spin on the ball.
(Croquet) To drive (a ball) to one side by hitting with another ball. To cut a caper. See under Caper. To cut the cards, to divide a pack of cards into portions, in order to determine the deal or the trump, or to change the cards to be dealt. To cut both ways, to have effects both advantageous and disadvantageous. To cut corners, to deliberately do an incomplete or imperfect job in order to save time or money. To cut a dash or To cut a figure, to make a display of oneself; to give a conspicuous impression. [Colloq.] To cut down.
1. To sever and cause to fall; to fell; to prostrate. ``Timber . . . cut down in the mountains of Cilicia.''
  --Knolles.
2. To put down; to abash; to humble. [Obs] ``So great is his natural eloquence, that he cuts down the finest orator.''
  --Addison
3. To lessen; to retrench; to curtail; as, to cut down expenses.
4. (Naut.) To raze; as, to cut down a frigate into a sloop. To cut the knot or To cut the Gordian knot, to dispose of a difficulty summarily; to solve it by prompt, arbitrary action, rather than by skill or patience. To cut lots, to determine lots by cuttings cards; to draw lots. To cut off.
  1. To sever; to separate.
    
    I would to God, . . . The king had cut off my brother's.
    --Shak.
  2. To put an untimely death; to put an end to; to destroy. ``Iren[ae]us was likewise cut off by martyrdom.''
    --Addison.
  3. To interrupt; as, to cut off communication; to cut off (the flow of) steam from (the boiler to) a steam engine.
  4. To intercept; as,, to cut off an enemy's retreat.
5. To end; to finish; as, to cut off further debate. To cut out.
  1. To remove by cutting or carving; as, to cut out a piece from a board.
  2. To shape or form by cutting; as, to cut out a garment. `` A large forest cut out into walks.''
    --Addison.
  3. To scheme; to contrive; to prepare; as, to cut out work for another day. ``Every man had cut out a place for himself.''
    --Addison.
  4. To step in and take the place of; to supplant; as, to cut out a rival. [Colloq.]
  5. To debar. ``I am cut out from anything but common acknowledgments.''
    --Pope.
6. To seize and carry off (a vessel) from a harbor, or from under the guns of an enemy.
7. to separate from the midst of a number; as, to cut out a steer from a herd; to cut out a car from a train.
8. to discontinue; as, to cut out smoking. To cut to pieces.
  1. To cut into pieces; as, to cut cloth to pieces.
  2. To slaughter; as, to cut an army to pieces. To cut a play (Drama), to shorten it by leaving out passages, to adapt it for the stage. To cut rates (Railroads, etc.), to reduce the charges for transportation below the rates established between competing lines. To cut short, to arrest or check abruptly; to bring to a sudden termination. ``Achilles cut him short, and thus replied.'' --Dryden. To cut stick, to make off clandestinely or precipitately. To cut teeth, to put forth teeth; to have the teeth pierce through the gum and appear. To have cut one's eyeteeth, to be sharp and knowing. To cut one's wisdom teeth, to come to years of discretion. To cut under, to undersell; as, to cut under a competitor in trade; more commonly referred to as undercut. To cut up.
    1. To cut to pieces; as, to cut up an animal, or bushes.
    2. To damage or destroy; to injure; to wound; as, to cut up a book or its author by severe criticism. ``This doctrine cuts up all government by the roots.''
      --Locke.
  3. To afflict; to discourage; to demoralize; as, the death of his friend cut him up terribly. [Colloq.]
    --Thackeray.

To cut up

Cut \Cut\ (k[u^]t), v. i.

To do the work of an edged tool; to serve in dividing or gashing; as, a knife cuts well.
To admit of incision or severance; to yield to a cutting instrument.

Panels of white wood that cuts like cheese.
--Holmes.
To perform the operation of dividing, severing, incising, intersecting, etc.; to use a cutting instrument.

He saved the lives of thousands by his manner of cutting for the stone.
--Pope.
To make a stroke with a whip.
To interfere, as a horse.
To move or make off quickly. [Colloq.]
To divide a pack of cards into two portion to decide the deal or trump, or to change the order of the cards to be dealt. To cut across, to pass over or through in the most direct way; as, to cut across a field. To cut and run, to make off suddenly and quickly; -- from the cutting of a ship's cable, when there is not time to raise the anchor. [Colloq.] To cut in or To cut into, to interrupt; to join in anything suddenly. To cut up.
1. To play pranks. [Colloq.]
2. To divide into portions well or ill; to have the property left at one's death turn out well or poorly when divided among heirs, legatees, etc. [Slang.] ``When I die, may I cut up as well as Morgan Pendennis.''
  --Thackeray.

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What is "to cut up"

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