cutoff

[kuht-awf, -of]

noun

1. an act or instance of cutting off.

2. something that cuts off.

3. a road, passage, etc., that leaves another, usually providing a shortcut.

   Let's take the cutoff to Baltimore.

4. a new and shorter channel formed in a river by the water cutting across a bend in its course.

5. a point, time, or stage serving as the limit beyond which something is no longer effective, applicable, or possible.

6. cutoffs, Also cut-offs shorts made by cutting the legs off a pair of trousers, especially jeans, above the knees and often leaving the cut edges ragged.

7. Accounting.,  a selected point at which records are considered complete for the purpose of settling accounts, taking inventory, etc.

8. Baseball.,  an infielder's interception of a ball thrown from the outfield in order to relay it to home plate or keep a base runner from advancing.

9. Machinery.,  arrest of the steam moving the pistons of an engine, usually occurring before the completion of a stroke.

10. Electronics.,  (in a vacuum tube) the minimum grid potential preventing an anode current.

11. Rocketry.,  the termination of propulsion, either by shutting off the propellant flow or by stopping the combustion of the propellant.

adjective

1. being or constituting the limit or ending.

   a cutoff date for making changes.

Word History and Origins

Origin of cutoff¹

First recorded in 1735–45; noun use of verb phrase cut off

Example Sentences

Especially troubling was the sharp cutoff of any subsidies for families earning even a dime more than 400% of the poverty level.

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The families said this amounted to a design "defect" that "allowed for inadvertent cutoff of fuel supply and total loss of thrust necessary to propel" the plane.

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One such bill extended services for foster youth until age 21, rather than the previous cutoff of 18.

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Many of the cutoffs of funds violate the 1st Amendment for being based on viewpoint.”

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But at least they won’t go into deadline day without having made any deals, with Wednesday night’s late-night transaction expected to be the first of several moves they make ahead of Thursday’s trade cutoff.

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