cutting

1. (countable, uncountable) The action of the verb to cut.Examples: "How many different cuttings can this movie undergo?"; "Ye ſhall not make any cuttings in your fleſh for the dead, nor print any markes vpon you: I am the Lord."; "The first stage of the demolition work consisted of removing, by oxy-acetylene cutting, the whole of the plate floor, cross-girders, and lattice parapets."countableuncountable

2. (countable) A section removed from a larger whole.Examples: "[O]bſerving [...] abundance of Matter floating in the Urine like Bran, with a great Number of Recrements like Cuttings of Hair, ſome above an Inch long, which Subſtances were found in all the Water that I made in above Twelve Months; for which I could get no Remedy: I was adviſed to drink Water, which in about half a Year did intirely free me from thoſe Symptoms, [...]"; "I make such gelatine as above mentioned of two different qualities, [...] and I use all such hides and skins, and cuttings of hides and skins as are usually employed in manufacturing glue according to the ordinary method, and which are commonly called glue-pieces, [...]"; "Yet, while paper cuttings can look very modern, paper cutting as an activity has a long, rich heritage. The Chinese, who first invented paper as we know it, started cutting more than a thousand years before most Europeans had ever seen a piece of paper. The oldest extant paper cutting is a simple symmetrical circle from the sixth century that was found in a far western province of China."Synonyms: chip, slice, bit, chip, chunk, clip, crumb, crumblingcountable

3. (countable) A section removed from a larger whole.Examples: "Extract from "Newspaper Cuttings relating to Sussex," (Sussex Archaeological Collections, 1872, pp. 140, 141.)"; "The Witness. [After a farther inspection of the newspaper cutting.] No; it is not in that part about Weber, but here [indicating another newspaper cutting] is the agreement that Mr. Wilder was testifying about, and that has Weber's name."; "Mrs. Seal wandered about with newspaper cuttings, which seemed to her either "quite splendid" or "really too bad for words." She used to paste these into books, or send them to her friends, having first drawn a broad bar in blue pencil down the margin, a proceeding which signified equally and indistinguishably the depths of her reprobation or the heights of her approval."Synonyms: chip, slice, bit, chip, chunk, clip, crumb, crumblingcountable

4. (countable) A section removed from a larger whole.Examples: "To propagate by cuttings, is to cut off the branch or ſtem of a Plant, and to ſet it in the Earth without Roots. Strip it of leaves and branches, Plant deeper than theſe with Roots, and in a rich and moiſt ſoil, keeping it watered and ſhaded, Untill Rooted; cut off their Tops ſave Greens, as if your cutting be 12 Inches long, let 9 be under, and 3 above ground."; "All the Sorts of Vines are propagated either from Layers or Cuttings, the former of which is greatly practis'd in England, but the latter is what I would recommend, as being much preferable to the other. [...] I had rather plant a good Cutting than a rooted Plant, provided it be well choſen, and there is leſs Danger of its not growing."; "The method of propagating the Box is perfectly easy: it may be raised from cuttings, or from seed, or by layering. [...] For planting the cuttings, [Thomas] Hanbury says the month of August is the best time, if any rain falls."Synonyms: chip, slice, bit, chip, chunk, clip, crumb, crumblingcountable

5. (countable) An abridged selection of written work, often intended for performance.Examples: "The actor had to make his cutting shorter to fit the audition time."countable

6. (countable, UK) An open passage at a level lower than the surrounding terrain, dug for a canal, railway, or road to go through.Examples: "[T]he railway, however, will require a farther outlay to render it complete, though the locomotive engine has passed over every foot of ground from Liverpool to Salford. The slopes of the cuttings want dressing, and several of them want protecting with foot walls."; "We flash across the level. / We thunder thro' the bridges. / We bicker down the cuttings. / We sway along the ridges."; "No borrow pit excavation was necessary, and 41,000 cu. yd. were removed from cuttings by excavating machines."Synonyms: cutAntonyms: embankmentUKcountable