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

He was warm in long sleeves, which he took to wearing after wiping out in short sleeves a week ago and “getting cut up.”

From Los Angeles Times

Telefonica will cut up to 5,500 jobs in Spain under a voluntary departure plan agreed with trade unions last week, the debt-laden telecoms firm said in a statement on Monday.

From Barron's

For little fifth-grade me, watching videos of jerkers cut up on the bus and get off at the mall made me excited to inherit the city, because it was clear it belonged to the youth.

From Los Angeles Times

Leftover pizza gets cut up, crisped on the stove and mixed into scrambled eggs—a remnant from Duggal’s college days that she has christened “pizza eggs.”

From The Wall Street Journal

JLR went as far as halting exports of its cars to the United States in April -- and later announced plans to cut up to 500 UK management jobs.

From Barron's