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cutter

[kuht-er]
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noun
  1. a person who cuts, especially as a job, as one who cuts fabric for garments.
  2. a machine, tool, or other device for cutting.
  3. Nautical.
    1. a single-masted sailing vessel, very similar to a sloop but having its mast set somewhat farther astern, about two-fifths of the way aft measured on the water line.
    2. a ship's boat having double-banked oars and one or two lugsails.
  4. Also called revenue cutter. a lightly armed government vessel used to prevent smuggling and enforce the customs regulations.
  5. a person who repeatedly inflicts self-injury by cutting the skin, as to cope with negative emotions.
  6. a person employed as a film editor.
  7. a small, light sleigh, usually single-seated and pulled by one horse.
  8. Also called rubber. a brick suitable for cutting and rubbing.
  9. (in U.S. government grading of beef)
    1. a low-quality grade of beef between utility and canner.
    2. beef of this grade, mostly used in processed beef products, as sausage.
  10. cut fastball.
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adjective
  1. (in U.S. government grading of beef) graded between utility and canner.
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Origin of cutter

First recorded in 1375–1425, cutter is from the Middle English word kittere, cuttere. See cut, -er1
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for cutter

Contemporary Examples

Historical Examples

  • But the cutter slipped by and left him knee-deep, looking ruefully after them.

    K

    Mary Roberts Rinehart

  • The hovel of a cutter of wood into lengths for burning, was the only house at that end; all else was wall.

    A Tale of Two Cities

    Charles Dickens

  • It is intended for two; won't you step out of the sleigh into the cutter?

  • They're going to send a cutter for me to come and take Parker's place.

  • The cutter imitated this manoeuvre, and the boat of the wreck went last.

    Homeward Bound

    James Fenimore Cooper

British Dictionary definitions for cutter

cutter

noun
  1. a person or thing that cuts, esp a person who cuts cloth for clothing
  2. a sailing boat with its mast stepped further aft so as to have a larger foretriangle than that of a sloop
  3. a ship's boat, powered by oars or sail, for carrying passengers or light cargo
  4. a small lightly armed boat, as used in the enforcement of customs regulations
  5. a pig weighing between 68 and 82 kg, from which fillets and larger joints are cut
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Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for cutter

n.

late 12c., "one who cuts" in any sense, agent noun from cut (v.). As a type of small, single-masted vessel, from 1762, earlier "boat belonging to a ship of war" (1745), perhaps so called from the notion of "cutting" through the water.

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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper