Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. to rush away, to leave fast, to escape.

1834		D. Crockett Narrative of the Life of D.C. (1934) 19: I then cut out.
1835		Essex Standard 23 Oct. 4/4: I cocks my eye on the floor and there I seed his umbreller [...] so I picks it up and cuts out arter him.
1845		W.T. Thompson Chronicles of Pineville 143: Do you think he has cut out, sure enough?
1907		H. Lawson ‘Mateship’ in Roderick (1972) 728: We’ll cut out in a week or two.
1909		Wodehouse Mike [ebook] ‘[I]f I find you trying to cut out in the small hours, there’ll be trouble’.
1912		O. Johnson Stover at Yale 83: Let’s cut out [W&F].
1925		S. Lewis Arrowsmith 154: If you’re going to keep me in rags, I’m going to cut out college!
1939		Cab Calloway ‘For the Last Time I Cried Over You’ 🎵 Oh, man, that soft cut out on me. / What you sayin’? / Yes, she copped a final on me.
1946		Mezzrow & Wolfe Really the Blues 9: I cut out from that place every way but slow.
1958		Mad mag. May–June 20: And I’ll, like, cut out from this Capulet scene.
1959		C. Himes Crazy Kill 93: When Poor Boy cut out with that poke [...] there was a man looking out a window.
1961		T. Taylor Baron’s Court All Change (2011) 104: ‘I’ve got to get to my quack’s before she cuts out’.
1964		H. Selby Jr Last Exit to Brooklyn 89: She hunted around and found the kid and cutout.
1977		(con. 1949) J.G. Dunne True Confessions (1979) 177: I cut out of Wenatchee when I was twelve. With a circus.
1980		(con. 1940s–60s) H. Huncke ‘Detroit Redhead’ in Eve. Sun Turned Crimson (1998) 105: Recently she had cut out with some trick who had eyes for her.
1995		(con. 1985–90) P. Bourjois In Search of Respect 80: We sold the ring and then we cut out on her to go get a blast.
2000		J.J. Connolly Layer Cake 19: We’re happy and so is Jeremy and he cuts out.
2011		J.J. Connolly Viva La Madness 104: I was just cutting out, Sonny.
2012		T. Piccirilli Last Kind Words 203: I pressed my lips to her forehead and cut out.

2. to stop; also as imper.

1836		H.M. Milner Turpin’s Ride to York II vi: Cut out your blarney whids.
1899		Ade Fables in Sl. (1902) 82: Moral: Drink Deep, or Cut Out the Pierian Spring Alltogether.
1907		Bismarck Dly Trib. (Dakota, ND) 10 Oct. 2/3: When you sigh for booze or beer, Cut it out. / [...] / If your nose is too blamed red, Cut it out / [...] / Booze never helped you yet, Cut it out.
1903		A. Binstead Pitcher in Paradise 91: Cut all that out. Are you ready to begin?
1913		Day Book (Chicago) 21 Oct. 16/2: For goodness sake, Adolf, cut it out! You cry so easy.
1915		Drew & Evans Grifter 8: ‘Cut it out [...] Cut it out. It’s done, and there’s an end to it’.
1917		Goodwin’s Wkly (Salt Lake City, UT) 2 June 12/3: Elmer said scowling, ‘Cut it out’.
1919		‘Sapper’ Mufti 167: She’s just an ordinary common or garden flirt, and we’ll cut it right out.
1920		N.Y. Tribune 25 Apr. 75/1: [carftoon] Now Listen Your Here Violet [...] Cut it out, d’ya hear?
1925		‘Bartimeus’ ‘Great Security’ in Great Security 42: I cut out the drink this three months, Annie.
1939		V. Davis Gentlemen of the Broad Arrows 121: Cut out talking, it’s work we want.
1941		K. Tennant Battlers 65: ‘How are y’ now, Snowy love?’ she asked gently. ‘I’m all right,’ that worthy croaked feebly. ‘And cut out the Snowy love.’.
1951		J.D. Salinger Catcher in the Rye (1958) 9: I’m quite a heavy smoker, for one thing – that is, I used to be. They made me cut it out.
1958		(con. 1940s) B. Behan Borstal Boy 130: Cut out that whispering.
1975		E. Torres Carlito’s Way 135: Cut out that kind of talk.
1985		S. Berkoff West in Decadence and Other Plays (1985) 105: Cut out the patter man.
1998		D. Hecht Skull Session 424: You cut that out! Don’t you fucking dare.

3. (Aus., orig. shearing) to finish, to complete a job.

1888		‘Rolf Boldrewood’ Robbery Under Arms (1922) 18: You’d better stop, Jim, and take a hand in the deal [...] and then you and George can take a turn at local-preaching when you’re cut out.
1897		Worker (Brisbane) 4 Sept. 8/4: Now when the shed at last ‘cuts out’ he gets his ‘little bit,’ / And straps his ‘peter’ on his ‘croc’ and quickly does a get.
1898		H. Lawson ‘Dust Thou Art’ in Roderick (1972) 316: Well, Jack, you’ve cut out at last.
1901		H. Lawson ‘Send Round the Hat’ in Roderick (1972) 469: The shanty was full of shearers from Big Billabong Shed which had cut out the day before.
1904		Sun. Times (Perth) 24 Jan. 4/5: The bunce was cut out after the first or so [...] had lubricated.
1910		Bulletin (Sydney) 27 Oct. 13/3: They want to be at it and cut out as early as possible, so as to get another few sheds before the shearing finishes; so jumbucks have to be wet before a board wants to knock off.
1911		A. Wright Gamblers’ Gold (1931) 7: Early in the afternoon the last rough ‘cobbler’ lost his matted fleece, and the shed was ‘cut out’.
1936		D. Stivens Tramp and Other Stories 45: By lunch-time there was only a small oblong island of unstripped crop and he ate his sandwiches hurriedly. ‘You should cut out in less than an hour,’ the farmer said to him.
1941		K. Tennant Battlers 284: In a little over a week the job cut out and they went on again.
1957		J. Greenway ‘Australian Cattle Lingo’ in AS XXXIII:3 165: cut out, v. phr. To close down operations. ‘We started out from Roto when the sheds had all cut out.’.
2001		D. Looser Boobslang [U. Canterbury D.Phil. thesis] 51/1: cut out v. to serve (time in prison): ‘Have you got long to go?’ ‘Nah, I've cut out most of it’.

4. in fig. use, to die.

1967		Babs Gonzales I Paid My Dues 53: I’m going to drink everything I want to. If I ‘cut out,’ at least I’ll go happy.
1978		R. Charles Brother Ray 173: He was a fine singer [...] and it was a crime that he had to cut out so early.
1999		J. Ridley Everybody Smokes in Hell 42: Why in hell would Ian want to cut out when his life brimmed until it sloshed with so much stuff?
2023		(con. 1962) J. Ellroy Enchanters 182: ‘She’s got the Big C., and she’s cutting out fast’.

5. (Aus.) to spend time.

1967

J. Wynnum I’m a Jack, All Right 25: A bonzer way to cut out your leave, I can tell you.

6. (US) to lose concentration or enthusiasm.

2023

Rayman & Blau Riker’s 219: I was a kid who was very good in the ninth and tenth grade and then in eleventh and twelfth grade, I started to cut out.