Emily Dickinson Lexicon

CUS'TOM-A-RY, n. [Fr. coutumier, coustumier.]

A book containing laws and usages, or customs; as, the customary of the Normans. – Cowel.

CUS'TOM-ED, a.

1. Unusual; common; to which we are accustomed. [See Accustomed.] – Shak.
2. Furnished with customers. – Bacon.

CUST'OM-ER, n.

1. One who frequents any place of sale for the sake of purchasing goods; one who purchases goods or wares.
2. One who frequents or visits any place for procuring what he wants. We say a mill has many customers. Hence a person who receives supplies is called a customer; the smith, the shoemaker and the tailor have their customers; and the coffee-house has its customers.
3. A toll-gatherer. [Obs.]

CUS'TOM-HOUSE, n.

The house where vessels enter and clear, and where the customs are paid or secured to be paid.

CUS'TOS, n. [L.]

A keeper; as custos brevium, the principal clerk of the common pleas; custos rotulorum, keeper of the rolls and records of the sessions of the peace. England.

CUS'TREL, n. [Qu. Old Fr. coustillier, from L. scutum.]

A buckler-bearer. Also, a vessel for holding wine. [Not in use.]

CUT, n.

1. The action of an edged instrument; a stroke or blow, as with an ax or sword.
2. A cleft; a gash; a notch; a wound; the opening made by an edged instrument, distinguished by its length from that made by perforation with a pointed instrument.
3. A stroke or blow with a whip.
4. A channel made by cutting or digging; a ditch; a groove; a furrow; a canal.
5. A part cut off from the rest; as, a good cut of beef; a cut of timber. Also, any small piece or shred.
6. A lot made by cutting a stick; as, to draw cuts. – Sidney.
7. A near passage, by which an angle is cut off; as, a shorter cut.
8. A picture cut or carved on wood or metal, and impressed from it. – Brown.
9. The stamp on which a picture is carved, and by which it is impressed.
10. The act of dividing a pack of cards. Also, the right to divide; as, whose cut is it?
11. Manner in which a thing is cut; form; shape; fashion; as, the cut of a garment; the cut of his beard. – Stillingfleet.
12. A fool; a cully; a gelding. [Not in use.] Cut and long tail, men of all kinds; a proverbial expression borrowed from dogs.

CUT, pp.

Gashed; divided; hewn; carved; intersected; pierced; deeply affected; castrated. Cut and dry, prepared for use; a metaphor from hewn timber.

CUT, v.i.

1. To pass into or through and sever; to enter and divide the parts; as, an instrument cuts well.
2. To be severed by a cutting instrument; as, this fruit cuts easy or smooth.
3. To divide by passing. The teeth are ready to cut. Arbuthnot.
4. To perform a surgical operation by cutting, especially in lithotomy. He saved lives by cutting for the stone. Pope.
5. To interfere, as a horse. To cut in, to divide, or turn a card, for determining who are to play.

CUT, v.t. [pret. and pp. cut. Norm. cotu, cut. This word coincides in elements with the W. cat, a piece, cateia, to cut, cwta, short, cwtau, to shorten, and with ysgythru, to cut off, to lop, to shred, to carve, which Owen deduces from ysgwth, a push, from gwth, a push or thrust, gwthiaw, to push, thrust, press. Whether cut is derived to us from the Welsh or not may be a question; but I have not found the word in any of the Gothic or Teutonic languages. It is obviously from a common root with the L. cædo and cudo, and the primary sense is to thrust, to drive, to strike; and to cut off is primarily to strike off. We have proof of this in our own language; for a stroke with a whip is called a cut, and our common people, when they urge a person to ride or run with haste, cry out, cut on, cut on. The fact is the same with many other words which now signify, to separate with an edged tool. See Class Gd, No. 2, 4, 8, 43, 49, 56, 59, and in a different dialect, Class Gs, No. 5, 6, 28, 32, 40, 41, 42, 67.]

1. To separate the parts of any body by an edged instrument, either by striking, as with an ax, or by sawing or rubbing; to make a gash, incision or notch, which separates the external part of a body; as, to cut the flesh. It signifies also, to cut into pieces; to sever or divide; as, to cut timber in the forest. But when an entire separation of the body is intended, it is usually followed by off, down, asunder, in two, in pieces, or other word denoting such severance. “Ye shall not cut yourselves,” that is, Ye shall not gash your flesh. Deut. xiv.
2. To hew. Thy servants can skill to cut timber. 2 Chron. ii.
3. To carve, as meat; to carve or engrave in sculpture. Addison.
4. To divide; to cleave, by passing through; as, a ship cuts the briny deep.
5. To penetrate; to pierce; to affect deeply; as, a sarcasm cuts to the quick.
6. To divide, as a pack of cards; as, to cut and shuffle.
7. To intersect; to cross. One line cuts another at right angles. The ecliptic cuts the equator.
8. To castrate. To cut across, to pass by a shorter course, so as to cut off an angle or distance. To cut asunder, to cut into pieces; to divide; to sever. He hath cut asunder the cords of the wicked. Ps. cxxix. To cut down, to fell; to cause to fall by severing. Ye shall cut down their groves. Ex. xxxiv. Hence, to depress; to abash; to humble; to shame; to silence; as, his eloquence cuts down the finest orator. Addison. [This phrase is not elegant, but is in popular use.] To cut off, to separate one part from another; as, to cut of a finger, or an arm; to cut off the right hand figure; to cut off a letter or syllable. #2. To destroy; to extirpate; to put to death untimely. Jezebel cut off the prophets of the Lord. 1 Kings xviii. Evil doers shall be cut off. Ps. xxxvii. #3. To separate; to remove to a distance, or to prevent all intercourse. A man in another country or in prison is cut off from his country or his friends. #4. To interrupt; as, to cut off communication. #5. To separate; to remove; to take away; as, to cut off ten years of life. #6. To intercept; to hinder from return, or union. The troops were cut off from the ships. #7. To end; to finish; as, to cut off all controversy. #8. To prevent or preclude; as, to cut off all occasion of blame. #9. To preclude or shut out. The sinner cuts himself off from the benefits of Christianity. #10. To stop, interrupt or silence. The judge cut off the counsel very short. Bacon. To cut on, to hasten; to run or ride with the utmost speed; a vulgar phrase. #2. To urge or drive in striking; to quicken blows; to hasten. To cut out, to remove a part by cutting or carving; as, to cut out a piece from a board; to cut out the tongue. Hence, #2. To shape or form by cutting; as, to cut out a garment; to cut out an image; to cut out a wood into walks. Hence, #3. To scheme; to contrive; to prepare; as, to cut out work for another day. So we say, to strike out. #4. To shape; to adapt. He is not cut out for an author. [Not elegant.] #5. To debar. [Not common.] Pope. #6. To take the preference or precedence of; as, to cut out a prior judgment creditor. – Kent. #7. To step in and take the place of, as courting and dancing. [A vulgar phrase.] #8. To interfere as a horse, when the shoe of one that beats off the skin of the pastern joint of another. To cut short, to hinder from proceeding by sudden interruption. Achilles cut him short. Dryden. #2. To shorten; to abridge; as, to cut short of provisions or pay; to cut the matter short. To cut up, to cut in pieces; as, to cut up beef. #2. To eradicate; to cut off; as, to cut up shrubs.

CU-TA'NE-OUS, a. [See Cuticle.]

Belonging to the skin, or cutis; existing on, or affecting the skin; as, a cutaneous disease; cutaneous eruption.

CUTE, a.

Clever; sharp.

CUTH, a.

In Saxon, signifies known, or famous. Hence, Cuthwin, a famous conqueror; Cuthred, a famous or knowing counselor; Cuthbert, known bright, or famous for skill. – Gibson.

CU'TI-CLE, n. [L. cuticula, dim. of cutis, skin, the same as hide – which see.]

1. The scarf-skin; the thin exterior coat of the skin, which rises in a blister; a thin pellucid membrane covering the true skin.
2. The thin external covering of the bark of a plant. – Darwin.
3. A thin skin formed on the surface of liquor. – Newton.

CU-TIC'U-LAR, a.

Pertaining to the cuticle or external coat of the skin.

CUT'LAS, n. [Fr. coutelas; Arm. contelaçzen; It. coltellaccio; Port. cutelo. This word seems to be from the L. cultellus, at least the Italian and French are so; and n in the Armoric is casual, as in other words in that dialect. The curteleaxe or curtelax of some authors, and curtax, seem to be corrupted, or they are from Sp. cortar, L. curto, to cut. Cutlas is the more correct orthography.]

A broad curving sword; a hanger; used by soldiers in the cavalry, by seamen, &c.

CUT'LER, n. [Fr. coutelier; Norm. coteller; Arm. conteller or coutellour; Port. cutileiro; It. coltellinaio; from L. culter, a knife.]

One whose occupation is to make knives and other cutting instruments.

CUT'LER-Y, n.

The business of making knives; or more generally, knives and other edged instruments in general.

CUT'LET, n. [Fr. côtelette, a little side or rib; côté, side.]

A small piece of meat for cooking; as a veal cutlet.

CUT'PURSE, n. [cut and purse.]

One who cuts purse for stealing them or their contents; a practice said to have been common when men wore purses at their girdles. One who steals from the person; a thief; a robber. – Shak. Bentley.

CUT'TER, n.

1. One who cuts or hews.
2. An instrument that cuts; as, a straw-cutter.
3. A fore tooth, that cuts meat, as distinguished from a grinder.
4. A small boat used by ships of war. Also, a vessel with one mast and a straight running bowsprit, which may be run in upon deck; rigged nearly like a sloop. – Mar. Dict.
5. An officer in the exchequer that provides wood for the tallies.
6. A ruffian; a bravo; a destroyer. [Obs.]

CUT'-THROAT, a.

Murderous; cruel; barbarous. – Carew.

CUT'-THROAT, n.

A murderer; an assassin; a ruffian. – South. Dryden.

CUT'TING, n.

1. A separation or division; a piece cut off; a slip; as, the cuttings of vines.
2. The operation of removing a stone from the bladder.

CUT'TING, ppr. [See Cut.]

1. Dividing by an edged instrument; cleaving by the stroke or motion of an edged instrument, as by a knife, ax, or saw; hewing; carving; intersecting; piercing.
2. adj. Piercing the heart; wounding the feelings; deeply affecting with shame or remorse; pungent; piquant; satirical: as, a cutting reflection.