cut down
See also: cut-down and cutdown
English
Pronunciation
Audio (AU) (file)
Verb
cut down (third-person singular simple present cuts down, present participle cutting down, simple past and past participle cut down)
- Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see cut, down.
- 1944 January and February, “Light Railways in Derbyshire”, in Railway Magazine, page 25:
- All three engines are cut down severely to pass through the tunnel, which is of very restricted dimensions, and have neither cabs nor weatherboards.
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- (transitive) To bring down by cutting.
- They want to cut down several trees to make room for the parking lot.
- (idiomatic, transitive) To insult, to belittle.
- (idiomatic) To reduce the amount of something.
- He wants to cut down on extra steps.
- Please don't put the candy jar right next to my desk. I'm trying to cut down on sugar.
- 1961 October, “The winter timetables of British Railways: London Midland Region”, in Trains Illustrated, page 593:
- By wholesale omission of connections and by the use of a microscopic scale of photographic reproduction which makes some of the most important tables difficult to read, the size has been cut down from last winter's 580 to 520 pages only.
- (idiomatic, dated) To slay, often in great numbers.
- I will cut you down where you stand.
Usage notes
- In all senses, the object may appear before or after the particle. If it is a pronoun, it MUST precede the particle.
Derived terms
- cut-down
Translations
bring down a tree
|
insult, belittle
|
reduce the amount of something
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See also
- cut up
- shoot down
Anagrams
- downcut