cut and run

Idioms  

1. Clear out, escape, desert, as in He wished he could just cut and run. This term originally (about 1700) meant to cut a vessel's anchor cable and make sail at once. By the mid-1800s it was being used figuratively. Charles Dickens had it in Great Expectations (1861): “I'd give a shilling if they had cut and run.” Also see cut out, def. 7.

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Example Sentences

The one thing you shouldn’t do is cut and run, because one couple is in a lot of trouble for doing just that.

From Los Angeles Times

Although the fiscal realities are ugly, it’s worth remembering that in providing the coverage, California is sticking with some of its most vulnerable residents, at a time when it would be easier to cut and run.

From Los Angeles Times

Instead of hanging 10, some surfers in Newport Beach had to cut and run after they were accosted by an aggressive sea lion.

From Los Angeles Times

In No 10, "we don't think there is a cut and run", a senior source says.

From BBC

“It may be a collective. It may be a store. There’s no way I can cut and run out of a place that’s so special.”

From Los Angeles Times

Related Words

• avoid
• depart
• disappear
• dodge
• elude
• emerge
• evade
• flee
• fly
• leave
• run
• slip
• slip away
• vanish