Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. (orig. US, also cut the asparagus) to come up to a given standard, to prove satisfactory.

1898		Decatur (IL) Herald Dispatch 18 May 6?/2: His friends not only insist that he shall be a candidate but insist as well that he shall be the next county judge and McDonald bows to their wishes and will do their will, if he can cut the mustard.
1909		‘O. Henry’ Roads of Destiny 99: ‘She cut the mustard,’ he said, ‘all right.’.
1913		Alaska Citizen 28 July 8/4: You betcher sweet life I’ve cut the mustard.
1920		Ade Hand-made Fables 230: These crude Methods cut no Asparagus with the Landed Gentry.
1920		R.J. Fry Salvation of Jemmy Sl. III i: I can’t never cut the mustard with a home like I’ve got!
1933		J. Conroy Disinherited 247: They got bellies wrinkled up like washboards, so’s they can’t cut the mustard on a sand hoggin’ job.
1944		Post (Lanarks) 23 Apr. 6/3: Can’t cut the mustard — unable to take punishment.
1953		T. Runyon In For Life 186: They were slinking back, unable to cut the mustard outside.
1963		H.S. Thompson letter 14 Oct. in Proud Highway (1997) 403: Journalism needs people who can cut the ever-toughening mustard.
1976		E. Thompson Caldo Largo (1980) 85: If I don’t cut the mustard, you don’t have to pay me.
1986		S. King It (1987) 636: To show they could cut the mustard, I guess.
1990		P. Keating Shut Up and Listen 13: [T]he classic non-deliverer of Australian politics [...] the one person who just cannot cut the mustard.
1999		J. Poller Reach 148: Mum, it takes a lot more than dressing respectably [...] to cut the mustard as a mother!
2005		M.B. ‘Chopper’ Read Chopper 4 30: Celebrities who can’t cut the mustard any more.
2013		Guardian 21 Dec. 🌐 A centuries-old Kent pub [...] is cutting the mustard again, thanks to a shabby-chic makeover.
2021		Breen & Conlon Hitmen 96: Whatever answers Eric Wilson gave, they did not cut the mustard.

2. (W.I.) of a man, to satisfy a woman sexually.

1975		G. Legman More Limericks 179: [no text] [Simes:DLSS].
1996		Allsopp Dict. Carib. Eng. Usage.

3. (US) to show off.

1953

W. Eyster Far from the Customary Skies 127: Swing them along, boys, show them how to dance, give it the juice, make like you’re cutting the mustard.

4. (US) to impress, to influence.

2000

Observer Rev. 2 Apr. 2: None of the small-time players on the TCI cuts the mustard with the likes of Gordon Brown, Tony Blair or William Hague.