cutoff

[kuht-awf, -of]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR cutoff ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

an act or instance of cutting off.

something that cuts off.

a road, passage, etc., that leaves another, usually providing a shortcut: Let's take the cutoff to Baltimore.

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

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

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.

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

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.

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

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

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

adjective

being or constituting the limit or ending: a cutoff date for making changes.

Origin of cutoff

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

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for cutoff

meantime, layoff, letup, intrusion, stoppage, hiatus, hitch, delay, disruption, pause, disturbance, breach, suspension, rupture, blackout, cutoff, recess, interruption, hesitation, halt

Examples from the Web for cutoff

Contemporary Examples of cutoff

As far as underage attendees, Dottley remains adamant that 18 was the cutoff point.
Inside Hollywood’s ‘Twink’ Pool Parties
Scott Bixby
April 19, 2014
Heidi Klum wore a pair of the Gizeh sandals with cutoff jean shorts, and Ashley Olsen wore them just about everywhere.
Summer 2013: The Season We All Started Wearing Birkenstocks Again
Isabel Wilkinson
August 19, 2013
Holmes and Rahe used 300 (ding ding ding) as the cutoff to predict a high risk of illness.
Being Unemployed Could Help Cause a Heart Attack, Researchers Find
Kent Sepkowitz
November 21, 2012
Whether a cutoff in the power supply is successful depends on whether the nuclear facility has a backup power supply.
Who’s Sabotaging Iran’s Nuclear Program?
Eli Lake
September 19, 2012
One hospital might set the cutoff at 20 or 50 or 100 years old, while another might figure 55 is the way to go.
How Dick Cheney Got His New Heart
Kent Sepkowitz
March 26, 2012

Historical Examples of cutoff

I mean to cutoff all connection with the past; and she belongs to it.
One Of Them
Charles James Lever
Bellamy was still stammering sheepishly when Lucinda cutoff.
Linda Lee, Incorporated
Louis Joseph Vance
Ishie groaned, depressed the cutoff switch and turned to Mike.
Where I Wasn't Going
Walt Richmond
Position diagram of cylinder with cutoff at 1/8, ¼, 3/8 and ½ stroke of piston with movable valves, on card 7½ in.
A Practical Handbook on the Distillation of Alcohol from Farm Products
F. B. Wright
Three-quarters of a mile from the ford we found the place to make the cutoff and there halted awhile.
William Clayton's Journal
William Clayton

Word Origin and History for cutoff

1640s, "act of cutting off," also "portion cut off," from verbal phrase cut off (late 14c.). Of rivers, from 1773; of roads, from 1806; of clothing (adj.), from 1840.