cutoff

American  

[kuht-awf, -of] / ˈkʌtˌɔf, -ˌɒf /

noun

1. an act or instance of cutting off.

2. something that cuts off.

3. a road, passage, etc., that leaves another, usually providing a shortcut.

   Let's take the cutoff to Baltimore.

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

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

6. 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.

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

8. 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.

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

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

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

---

adjective

1. being or constituting the limit or ending.

   a cutoff date for making changes.

Etymology

Origin of cutoff

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

Example Sentences

Father Crowley/Rainbow Canyon Vista Point remains closed, as do Beatty Cutoff Road, North Highway and many other paved and unpaved park roads.

From Los Angeles Times • Dec. 4, 2023

A return trip to Seattle via state Highway 161 northbound or the scenic Alder Cutoff Road East takes visitors through Eatonville.

From Seattle Times • Mar. 3, 2022

But it’s fascinating nevertheless to see an early version of the lyrical mood that would lend her later movies, such as Meek’s Cutoff and Certain Women, their particular plangent glow.

From The Guardian • Jun. 29, 2020

Additional trails such as the North Alternate Route and Goodale’s Cutoff are not recognized because of their dates of use.

From Washington Times • Apr. 4, 2020

I have come aside from the Sublette Cutoff trail to be present at this rendezvous.

From The Junior Classics — Volume 7 Stories of Courage and Heroism by Patten, William