Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. to abandon restraints, either in one’s action or, in an argument, in one’s language and abuse.

1809		Horry & Weems Life of General F. Marion (1816) 224: The enemy, seeing the approach of our buccaneers [...] all at once cut loose upon them with a thundering clap.
1887		G. Devol Forty Years a Gambler 83: Johnson cut loose and knocked him down.
1899		W.J. Kountz Billy Baxter’s Letters 39: The band cut loose something fierce. The leader tore out about $9.00 worth of hair, and acted generally as though he had bats in his belfry.
1908		D.G. Phillips Susan Lenox II 100: I work hard all week. Saturday nights I cut loose.
1914		Bulletin (Sydney) 9 July 10/4: In London shortly after Victoria’s death, when Meath’s mania first cut loose, [...] an excessively patriotic Englishman asked Wood if he didn’t think something should be done every May 24.
1926		Van Vechten Nigger Heaven 84: Often I’ve seen her cut loose at Marshall’s [...] towards three in the morning, do an old fashioned pigeon-wing or a hoe-down.
1927		(con. WW1) P. MacDonald Patrol 101: ‘Abelson, you’ve no business to go cuttin’ loose. ’F it happens again, I’ll put you under close arrest’.
1930		McKinney’s Cotton Pickers ‘Zonky’ 🎵 Time to start dancing zonky, / Start cutting loose, get honky-tonky, / It’s a good excuse, let your feelings run wild!
1946		K. Fearing Big Clock (2002) 150: Of course, without meaning to, I’d cut loose with another raucous laugh.
1955		T. Williams Cat on a Hot Tin Roof Act II: Now that shadow’s lifted, I’m going to cut loose and have, what is it they call it, have me a – ball!
1966		H.S. Thompson Hell’s Angels (1967) 111: Solid nine-to-five types with a yen to cut loose.
1986		J. Ellroy Silent Terror 127: Young people come to Aspen to cut loose and get away from the grind.
1993		I. Welsh Trainspotting 93: Ah well, it does ye good tae cut loose once in a while.
2000		P. Howard Miseducation of Ross O’Carroll-Kelly (2004) 217: We really need to cut loose.
2011		IOL News Western Cape) 10 May 🌐 It shows a bunch of white guys in suits cutting loose on the dance-floor.
2023		(con. 1962) J. Ellroy Enchanters 43: I wanted to be where she got lonely and cut loose.

2. to leave, to walk away [cut v.² (2)].

1835		D. Crockett Col. Crockett’s Tour to North and Down East 13: When he began to cut his antics, I cut loose.
1851		‘A Fearful Tale of the Mississippi’ in T.A. Burke Polly Peablossom’s Wedding 125: Daylight appeared – we ‘cut loose’.
1866		C.H. Smith Bill Arp 161: We resolved to cut loose from ’em, and paddle our own canoo.
1888		‘Rolf Boldrewood’ Robbery Under Arms (1922) 217: Jim could have cut loose from us any time.
1901		J. Flynt World of Graft 92: After a while the old woman died, an’ I cut loose altogether.
1908		H. Green Maison De Shine 95: You’d be doin’ right to cut loose from both of ’em, Louisa.
1920		F. Packard White Moll 159: ‘Youse had better cut loose, mother!’ he warned over his shoulder.
1949		I. Shulman Cry Tough! 170: I’m learnin’ the ropes. Then we’ll cut loose.
1978		H. Selby Jr Requiem for a Dream (1987) 39: Ah gotta cut loose this shit and split.
1978		S. King Stand (1990) 1264: Cutting loose? Where are you going?
1993		S. Armitage ‘To Poverty’ Book of Matches 38: I should have split, cut loose.
2023		(con. 1962) J. Ellroy Enchanters 39: Cut loose, daddy — I’m coming out of my wig.

3. to give out, to release (something).

1903		‘Hugh McHugh’ I Need The Money 93: They both cut loose: – ‘The owl shed woo Shoo / By Shickamo’ tree!’.
1914		Ade ‘The New Fable of the Lonesome Camp’ Ade’s Fables 273: Any one willing to cut loose on Caviar and stuff raised under Glass will never have to dine alone in gay Paree.
1922		B. Hecht A Thousand and One Afternoons [ebook] The kind that hang on your words and breathe hard while you cut loose with the patter.
1930		G. Milburn ‘The Dealer Gets It All’ Hobo’s Hornbook 150: The kid that played the saxophone cut loose with a jag-time air.
1948		H. McCoy Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye in Four Novels (1983) 86: The bus [...] cut loose its horn in two blasts that rocked every living thing in the valley.
1953		J. Thompson Savage Night (1991) 108: They cut loose with the fertilizer.
1999		J. Ridley Everybody Smokes in Hell 82: That oh-my-fucked-up-life babble that, right then, maybe one thousand other people in LA were cutting loose with.

4. to attack; to fire a weapon; also in fig. sense, to begin, to start in on.

1896		F. Hutcheson Barkeep Stories 35: De guy springs a big forty-four an’ cuts loose wid it at de ’lectric light.
1904		C. Connors Bowery Life [ebook] [of eating] I tipped her er wink, grabbed er spoon, an’ cut loose.
1907		S.E. White Arizona Nights 9: I cut loose, and old Meat-in-the-pot missed fire.
1912		Bulletin (Sydney) 21 Nov. 28/2: The feature of the fight was the series of wild rallies in which Keys cut loose, and with amazing energy slapped and banged and bashed and uppercut and walloped and jabbed McCoy.
1925		Black Mask Aug. III 60: They cut loose at him with just one shot.
1929		E. Booth Stealing Through Life 81: Someone cut loose with a shotgun. Christ! What a mess!
1935		D. Lamson We Who Are About to Die 63: Then somebody cut loose a load of buckshot, and just about tore him in two.
1953		F. Paley Rumble on the Docks (1955) 16: Sully hopped quickly into the tavern before Jimmy could cut loose with another stone.
1963		M. Spillane Return of the Hood 17: Carl and Moe figured they was part of this guy’s bunch and cut loose at ’em.
1974		D. Goines Swamp Man 128: Without a second thought, George raised the shotgun and cut loose at the man.
1990		(con. early 1950s) J. Ellroy L.A. Confidential 116: I’ll cut my partner loose on you if you don’t.
2001		(con. 1964–8) J. Ellroy Cold Six Thousand 324: They cut loose. They blew beehives. Darts disinterred.

5. (US) to escape.

1921		Dos Passos Three Soldiers 366: ‘Say, what d’you think the chance is o’ cuttin’ loose?’ ‘Pretty damn poor,’ said Andrews.
1980		E. Folb Runnin’ Down Some Lines 234: cut (something) loose [...] 2. Free oneself.

6. (US black) to give up something.

1934		Z.N. Hurston Jonah’s Gourd Vine (1995) 82: Aw les’ squat dat rabbit and jump uh ’nother one. You ack lak you done cut loose.
1969		Cressey & Ward Delinquency, Crime, and Social Process 821: I was starting to put more gow in than anything, and pretty soon I just cut the crystal loose period, you know. I love that gow man.
1971–2		C. Shafer ‘Catheads [...] and Cho-Cho Sticks’ in Abernethy Bounty of Texas (1990) 202: cut someone loose, v. – to stop bothering someone.
1978		R. Charles Brother Ray 226: Actually heroin is supposed to make you impotent [...] if [it] had, then I’m sure it would have ended my addiction immediately. Yeah, I damn sure would have cut it loose, real quick.
1980		E. Folb Runnin’ Down Some Lines 234: cut (something) loose 1. Give up something.

7. (US black) to jilt; to terminate a relationship.

1949		Monteleone Criminal Sl. (rev. edn).
a.1953		‘Death Row’ in D. Wepman et al. Life (1976) 118: Moose [...] turned her into a stomp-down whore and then cut her loose.
1971		H.E. Roberts Third Ear n.p.: cut loose v. to end a friendship.
1979		‘Iceberg Slim’ Airtight Willie and Me 98: Gotta cut Red and his dope loose. Soon.
1980		E. Folb Runnin’ Down Some Lines 126: She’s doin’ you wrong and you know it, but you just can’t cut ’er loose – ’cause she’s got you on a tight leash. [Ibid.] 234: cut (one) loose 1. End a relationship with.
1999		Observer Mag. 3 Oct. 24: He has cut loose from the band.
2003		C. Stella Charlie Opera 125: They let him play with the big boys until they don’t need him anymore. Then they cut him loose or whack him.
2016		T. Robinson Rough Trade [ebook] ‘You cut me loose without so much as a goodbye’.

8. (US prison) constr. with [someone / something], to release, to be released.

a.1958		‘Broadway Sam’ in D. Wepman et al. Life (1976) 98: When she went to jail, Sam had no bail / To cut old Mable loose.
1968		N. Heard Howard Street 240: Unless they done somethin’ else, sir, I guess you can cut ’em loose.
1973		D. Goines Street Players 125: I’m goin’ go home and take me a bath as soon as I get cut loose.
1981		J. Ellroy Brown’s Requiem 216: He kept telling Cathcart he would blow the whole thing sky-high if he didn’t order Solly to cut Jane loose.
1990		S. Morgan Homeboy 54: Tarzon wouldn’t have cut me loose except to follow me.
1999		Indep. Rev. 28 July 4: Minor offenders in Yemen aren’t imprisoned. They’re locked in leg-irons and cut loose on the streets.
2008		R. Price Lush Life 185: ‘I hear you arrested that bastard who broke our window’ [...] ‘I believe they cut him loose’ .
2017		R. Friedman Street Warrior 157: [T]he prisoner would offer a sum of money, drugs, some kind of stolen swag, sex—you name it—to be cut loose.
2023		(con. 1962) J. Ellroy Enchanters 227: We cut Jack Clemmons [...] loose.

9. to terminate, to let go, to get rid of.

1953		F. Paley Rumble on the Docks (1955) 72: The guys knew he only went for girls with action – so he had to cut her loose.
1969		‘Iceberg Slim’ Pimp 60: I couldn’t show anger. If I did he would cut me loose.
1977		(con. 1949) J.G. Dunne True Confessions (1979) 242: We’ve got to think of a way to cut Jack Amsterdam loose.
1988		R. Doyle Commitments 109: Now the Sisters, Sonya, Sofia and Tanya, are going to cut loose.
1999		E. Bunker Mr Blue 239: The guy she was with cut her loose.
2001		(con. 1964–8) J. Ellroy Cold Six Thousand 346: A chance to take over a snitch-Klan in Mississippi when the Army cuts me loose.
2010		C. Hiaasen Star Island (2011) 46: I hadda fire two of the backup singers [...] I had to cut those bitches loose.
2021		J. Ellroy Widespread Panic 279: ‘I’m redundant [...] You’re cutting me loose’.

10. to launch someone into a situation.

1975		E. Torres Carlito’s Way 20: I knew [...] he would cut me loose into the big bucks.
1979		‘Iceberg Slim’ Airtight Willie and Me 34: We did a lot of rapping ’fore Ross cut us loose.

11. to give someone drugs.

1970

G. Scott-Heron Vulture (1996) 13: I donno if I’d cut them niggers loose in my crib [...] You know they gon’ wanna be high.