CUT UP

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does cut up mean? 

• CUT UP (adjective)
  The adjective CUT UP has 1 sense:

1. cut into pieces

  Familiarity information: CUT UP used as an adjective is very rare.

• CUT UP (verb)
  The verb CUT UP has 4 senses:

1. cut to pieces

2. destroy or injure severely

3. separate into isolated compartments or categories

4. significantly cut up a manuscript

  Familiarity information: CUT UP used as a verb is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• CUT UP (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Cut into pieces

Similar:

cut (separated into parts or laid open or penetrated with a sharp edge or instrument)

• CUT UP (verb)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Cut to pieces

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Synonyms:

carve; cut up

Context example:

Father carved the ham

Hypernyms (to "cut up" is one way to...):

cut (separate with or as if with an instrument)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "cut up"):

shave (make shavings of or reduce to shavings)

filet; fillet (cut into filets)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something

Sentence example:

They cut up the cape

Sense 2

Meaning:

Destroy or injure severely

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Synonyms:

cut up; mangle; mutilate

Context example:

The madman mutilates art work

Hypernyms (to "cut up" is one way to...):

damage (inflict damage upon)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something

Sense 3

Meaning:

Separate into isolated compartments or categories

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Synonyms:

compartmentalise; compartmentalize; cut up

Context example:

You cannot compartmentalize your life like this!

Hypernyms (to "cut up" is one way to...):

disunite; divide; part; separate (force, take, or pull apart)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Sense 4

Meaning:

Significantly cut up a manuscript

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Synonyms:

cut up; hack

Hypernyms (to "cut up" is one way to...):

edit; redact (prepare for publication or presentation by correcting, revising, or adapting)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Sentence example:

They won't cut up the story

 Context examples 

“I didn't expect he'd cut up so rough, Master Copperfield,” said Uriah.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

I observed in the king’s kitchen all sorts of mathematical and musical instruments, after the figures of which they cut up the joints that were served to his majesty’s table.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)

So the cow was killed, and cut up; and the stomach, in which Tom lay, was thrown out upon a dunghill.

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)

“I’ve been cut up in my time, but never as bad as that.”

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

"You must promise to behave well, and not cut up any pranks, and spoil our plans."

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

From the way he cut up the other time you went away, I wouldn't wonder this time but what he died.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

Whose peace would it not cut up for ever?

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)

But now, poor girl, her peace is cut up for some time.

(Emma, by Jane Austen)

That night they cut up and removed the bodies, not to eat—for the poison was still active—but lest they should breed a pestilence.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

He’ll be cut up over this, for the man has been in his service for years and was a good servant.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)