cut up

verb

1. to cut into pieces

2. to inflict injuries on

3. informal,  (usually passive) to affect the feelings of deeply

4. informal,  to subject to severe criticism

5. informal,  (of a driver) to overtake or pull in front of (another driver) in a dangerous manner

6. informal,  to become angry or bad-tempered

noun

1. informal,  a joker or prankster

Idioms and Phrases

Divide into smaller parts, break the continuity of, as in These meetings have cut up my whole day . [c. 1800]

Severely censure or criticize, as in The reviewer cut up the book mercilessly . [Mid-1700s]

be cut up . Be distressed or saddened, as in I was terribly cut up when she left . [Mid-1800s] Charles Dickens used this idiom in A Christmas Carol (1844): “Scrooge was not so dreadfully cut up by the sad event.”

Behave in a playful, comic, or boisterous way, as in On the last night of camp the children usually cut up . [Late 1800s]

cut up rough . Act in a rowdy, angry, or violent way, as in After a beer or two the boys began to cut up rough . [ Slang ; first half of 1800s]