cut up

British  

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

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noun

1. informal a joker or prankster

cut up Idioms  

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

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

3. 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.”

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

5. 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]

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Example Sentences

It also announced in February plans to cut up to 6,000 jobs.

From Barron's • Jun. 23, 2026

I’ll cut up a few wedges of lemon and squeeze them on top of my soup — even saving a few extra wedges to squeeze in between spoonfuls.

From Salon • Jun. 13, 2026

Groupon announced in a security filing this month that it will cut up to 400 jobs, or nearly 25% of its worldwide workforce, as part of a broader restructuring plan to make the platform AI-native.

From Los Angeles Times • May 29, 2026

Such phantom construction sites are caused by regulations that force public authorities to cut up large public projects into smaller lots and tender them separately.

From The Wall Street Journal • May 3, 2026

Instead of barrels, Cavalieri cut up geometric objects.

From "Zero: The Biography of a Dangerous Idea" by Charles Seife