cutoff
[kuht-awf, -of]
- 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.
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- being or constituting the limit or ending: a cutoff date for making changes.
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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. 2018
Examples from the Web for cutoff
Contemporary Examples
As far as underage attendees, Dottley remains adamant that 18 was the cutoff point.
Heidi Klum wore a pair of the Gizeh sandals with cutoff jean shorts, and Ashley Olsen wore them just about everywhere.
Holmes and Rahe used 300 (ding ding ding) as the cutoff to predict a high risk of illness.
Whether a cutoff in the power supply is successful depends on whether the nuclear facility has a backup power supply.
One hospital might set the cutoff at 20 or 50 or 100 years old, while another might figure 55 is the way to go.
Historical Examples
I mean to cutoff all connection with the past; and she belongs to it.
One Of ThemCharles James Lever
Bellamy was still stammering sheepishly when Lucinda cutoff.
Linda Lee, IncorporatedLouis Joseph Vance
Ishie groaned, depressed the cutoff switch and turned to Mike.
Where I Wasn't GoingWalt 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.
Three-quarters of a mile from the ford we found the place to make the cutoff and there halted awhile.
William Clayton's JournalWilliam Clayton
Word Origin and History for cutoff
n.
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.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper