cutup
Origin of cutup
Words nearby cutup
MORE ABOUT CUTUP
What does cutup mean?
Cutup is an informal word for someone who’s known for being a jokester or prankster—someone who’s funny and also probably a bit mischievous.
Example: Jane is all business at the office but she’s a real cutup at parties—she’s so funny!
Less commonly, the noun cutup (especially when it’s hyphenated as cut-up) refers to an artwork composed from the arrangement of other separate pieces, especially a poem constructed from other works. This can also be called a cut-up poem. Such a work can be created with what’s called the cut-up technique.
The phrasal verb cut up has several different meanings, including, most straightforwardly, to cut something into smaller pieces. This sense of the phrase is sometimes used in the form of an adjective, in which case it’s hyphenated, as in I always pack some cut-up fruit in the kids’ lunches.
Where does cutup come from?
The first records of the word cutup in reference to a jokester come from around 1780. It comes from the sense of the phrasal verb cut up that means “to behave in a playful or mischievous way.”
As a noun, cutup can also refer to a kind of montage or series of clips that have been edited (cut) together, such as sports highlights or clips from a TV show.
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What are some other forms related to cutup?
- cut-up (alternate hyphenated spelling)
What are some synonyms for cutup?
What are some words that share a root or word element with cutup?
What are some words that often get used in discussing cutup?
How is cutup used in real life?
Cutup is informal. Calling someone a cutup often implies that they are a bit mischievous or irreverent.
That Bard was such a card. A real cutup. A quip for each occasion. 😎 https://t.co/Un0giVIpVa
— Laurence Tribe (@tribelaw) August 21, 2017
"Let me just check the MLS forms." "That doesn't stand for Major League Soccer, does it?" Guess who the office cutup is! #notme
— Fevin Kik (@fevinkik) March 2, 2011
John, Archives Technician and official office cutup, seems to have found something interesting in the microfilm. What you got there? pic.twitter.com/n3mw7J6Gmt
— This is Archives (@ThisIsArchives) March 28, 2017
Try using cutup!
Which of the following words is a synonym of cutup?
A. joker
B. jokester
C. prankster
D. all of the above
How to use cutup in a sentence
She was known in the large family as the goofy one, a cutup since a child when she would perform nightly skits.
Three shootings bring District’s homicide count to 101 for year|Peter Hermann|July 12, 2021|Washington Post
British Dictionary definitions for cutup
Other Idioms and Phrases with cutup
Divide into smaller parts, break the continuity of, as in These meetings have cut up my whole day. [c. 1800]
Severely censure or criticize, as in The reviewer cut up the book mercilessly. [Mid-1700s]
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.”
Behave in a playful, comic, or boisterous way, as in On the last night of camp the children usually cut up. [Late 1800s]
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]