▪ I. cutter, n.1
(ˈkʌtə(r))
[f. cut v. + -er1.]
1. a. One who cuts; one who shapes things by cutting: the name of operatives in many subordinate branches of industry.
| 1483 Cath. Angl. 88 A Cutter, scissor. 1485 Nottingham Rec. III. 240 Gevyn in ale to þe cutters of the pole jd. 1530 Palsgr. 211/2 Cutter of throtes, coupeur de gorges. 1685 Boyle Effects of Mot. ii. 12 An experienced cutter of Gems. 1881 Porcelain Works Worcester 8 The transferrers, who place the prints on the wares; and the cutters, who prepare the paper for them. |
b. With adverbs, as cutter-down, cutter-off, cutter-out (also spec. in U.S., Austral., and N.Z. one who separates cattle from a herd: see cut v. 57 d), etc. cutter-in, (a) in Whale-fishery, one who cuts up a whale so as to remove the blubber (cf. cut v. 55 b); (b) a motorist who cuts in between or in front of vehicles (cf. cut v. 55 c).
| 1600 Shakes. A.Y.L. i. ii. 53 The cutter off of natures witte. 1611 Cotgr., Avalleur, a..feller, cutter downe. 1824 Miss Mitford Village Ser. i. (1863) 114 She was accomplished in all the arts of the needle..a capital cutter-out. 1843 E. Dieffenbach N.Z. I. ii. 51 [The tongue] is a monopoly of the ‘tonguer’ or ‘cutter-in’. 1886 Burton Arab. Nts. (abr. ed.) I. 99 Fifty horsemen..cutters-off of the highway, wild as wild Arabs. 1910 C. E. Mulford Hopalong Cassidy iii. 28 Each of the cutters-out rode after some calf. 1920 ― J. Nelson xxv. 259 There was only one pair of ropers..and only three cutters-out. 1928 Daily Express 5 June 9/1 The cutters-in, and the speed-at-any-price merchants who spoil travelling. Ibid. 26 June 10/2 The cutter-in and the speeder-up..are the causes of..accidents. 1940 E. C. Studholme Te Waimate (1954) xvi. 136 The ‘cutter-out’ rode through [the cattle], and after spotting the beast he wanted, would follow it out to the edge of the mob. |
c. In many combinations, as fustian-cutter, stone-cutter, wood-cutter, etc.: see these words.
2. spec. † a. A hair-cutter. Obs.
| c 1425 Voc. in Wr.-Wülcker 652/8 Hic tonsor, cuttere. Hic rasor, a shawere. 1624 Heywood Captives iii. ii, I sought the villadge through and cold find neare a cutter. |
b. A carver, sculptor, engraver.
| 1572 J. Bossewell Armorie ii. 25 b, Payntors, cutters, grauers, glasiers, and embrodurers. 1615 G. Sandys Trav. 105 In this Hippopatom the cutter chose rather to follow then reforme an error. 1880 Warren Book-plates xii. 126 Naming Durer as its designer, but not as its cutter upon the wood-block. |
c. † (a) A tailor. Obs. (b) Now, The person employed in a tailoring or similar establishment to take the measures and cut out the cloth.
| 1599 Minsheu Sp. Dict., Claravoya, iags or cuts in garments, such as cutters inuent for gentle-women. 1668 R. L'Estrange Vis. Quev., Another called himself a Cutter: We ask'd him whether in Wood or Stone? Neither, said he, but in Cloth and Stuff (Anglicè a Taylor). 1885 Law Times LXXX. 8/1 Employed by..a tailor in Regent-street, as a cutter and fitter of wearing apparel. |
d. One who cuts or castrates animals.
| 1562 Leigh Armorie (1597) 53 This my Bore is chast, for my cutter hath cut him. 1603 Canterbury Marriage Licences (MS.), Anthony Latenden of Wittersham, horse cutter. 1705 Lond. Gaz. No. 4182/4 He..is by Trade a Cutter of Pigs. 1888 in Elworthy W. Somerset Word-bk. |
e. Cinemat. One who cuts or edits a film (see cut v. 21 e). Also film-cutter.
| 1921 D. Boughey Film Industry vii. 65 So interwoven are the functions of the editor, or cutter..that the two must work in perfect harmony. 1928 Sunday Express 18 Mar. 4/3 In America the film-cutter is a man with a sub⁓editorial mind developed to the nth degree, and film-cutting..is one of the highest paid professions. 1961 K. Reisz Technique Film Editing (ed. 9) ii. 185 In a newsreel unit the man in charge is generally referred to as the Editor, and the man who does the actual assembling in the cutting room, the Cutter. 1966 Listener 17 Mar. 383/2 That shows how much you owe to the cutter and the director when it comes to the screen. |
† 3. a. One over-ready to resort to weapons; a bully, bravo; also, a cutthroat, highway-robber. Obs.
| 1568 Grafton Chron. II. 85 He..gathered together a companye of Roysters and Cutters, and practised robberyes. 1581 G. Pettie Guazzo's Civ. Conv. iii. (1586) 135 b, Like these cutters, and hackers, who will take the wall of men, and picke quarrells. 1607 R. C. tr. H. Stephen's World of Wonders 95 A theefe, or rather a cutter by the high way. a 1734 North Lives II. 57 His infirmities were passion, in which he would swear like a cutter [etc.]. 1826 Scott Woodst. xxvii, I see, sir, you understand cutter's law—when one tall fellow has coin, another must not be thirsty. |
† b. Applied to some riotous weavers in 1769.
| 1769 Chron. in Ann. Reg. 124/1 The new body of cutters, that have made a fresh disturbance in the neighbourhood of Spital-fields, are handkerchief-weavers. Ibid. 132/2 Fifty weavers, commonly called cutters, all masked, assembled..in Hoxton-square. 1770 Monthly Rev. 77 Two of the Spitalsfields rioters, or cutters, were sentenced to be hanged. |
4. a. That which cuts; an implement or tool for cutting; the cutting part of a machine, etc.
Used in a number of specific applications in various trades, and in numerous combinations, as chaff-cutter, disc-cutter, turnip-cutter, etc.
| 1631 Star Chamb. Cases (Camden) 84 He provided rules and cutters for making of farthings. 1686 Plot Staffordsh. 163 Another Workman takes them [iron bars] whilst hot, and puts them through the Cutters. 1788 Trans. Soc. Encourag. Arts VI. 200 In cutting small Wheels, Nuts, or Pinions, the Cutter must go in between the Chaps. 1833 J. Holland Manuf. Metal II. 60 Giving rotatory motion to a circular horizontal cutter. 1859 Handbk. Turning 65 Slide the cutter towards the edge of the work by turning the screw of the slide rest. |
† b. One of the front or cutting teeth; an incisor.
| 1579 J. Jones Preserv. Bodie & Soule i. xxi. 40 Whereof eight [teeth] be cutters, foure biters, and twentie grinders. 1668 Culpepper & Cole Barthol. Anat., Manual iv. xii. 348 In Man they [the teeth] are of a threefold figure: Cutters, Dog-teeth, and Grinders. 1691 Ray Creation (J.), The cutters [are] before, that they may be ready to cut off a morsel..to be transmitted to the grinders. |
c. Sound Recording. A tool which cuts a groove in a recording medium. In full cutter stylus.
| 1908 Jrnl. R. Soc. Arts LVI. 642/1 With a 12 inch disc, when the cutter is ½ inch from the edge, it will in one revolution describe a line on the record of a length approximately equal to the circumference of a circle of 11 inches diameter. 1962 A. Nisbett Technique Sound Studio iv. 87 The hot-stylus method..helps to smooth the wall as the cutter moves on. Ibid. 88 The cutter stylus ploughs its way through the surface of a disc. |
5. a. One who or that which cuts, in various transferred senses of the verb (see the quots.); one who cuts an acquaintance; a cutting remark, etc.
| 1579–80 North Plutarch (1676) 625 See, the cutter of my words riseth. 1656 Ridgley Pract. Physick 232 Then apply a Repeller, as Oyl of Roses, with which mingle cutters, or Vinegar. 1691 T. Browne Mr. Bays Changing Relig. (ed. 2) 15 This is a cutter, by my faith Mr. Bays, it lashes somewhere with a vengeance. 1781 Smeathman in Phil. Trans. LXXI. 179 note, Not only all his cloaths were destroyed by white Ants or Cutters, but his papers also. 1798 [see cuttee]. 1835 Fraser's Mag. XII. 145, I never cut any one..and have, indeed, a very considerable contempt for all cutters. 1882 Knowledge No. 19. 409/2 The cards are not shuffled between the cuts, so that the cutter, if he fails the first time, has a rather better chance next time. |
b. Cricket. (a) A batsman who ‘cuts’ the ball (see cut v. 31 a) or who is adept at making this stroke. (b) A ball that turns sharply after pitching (see cut v. 31 a).
| 1851 J. Pycroft Cricket Field vii. 148 The balls may be regularly rising: in this case every one would like to see a good cutter at the wicket. 1955 Times 15 July 3/3 Palmer..is a particularly effective driver and cutter. 1960 I. A. R. Peebles Bowler's Turn 40 By way of variation he bowled a cutter. 1966 E. R. Dexter Ted Dexter Declares ii. 21 They gave me a bit of bowling and I started with medium-pace swingers and off cutters. |
6. Mining. A crack or fissure intersecting the bedding or lines of stratification; the cleavage of slate (usually in pl.); a crack in a crystal or precious stone. dial.
| 1756 M. Calderwood Jrnl. (1884) 15 A soft sandy stone, so open in the cutters, and so loose, that the ground above it can have very little moisture. 1785 Hutton in Trans. R. Soc. Edin. (1788) I. 259 A stratum of porous sandstone does not abound so much with veins and cutters as a similar stratum of marble. 1799 J. Robertson Agric. Perth 34 Slates..of a muddy brown complexion along the cutters. 1865 Page Geol. Terms, Cutters, a quarryman's term for any narrow crack or fissure that cuts or crosses the strata; hence ‘backs and cutters’ for what is known to geologists as the jointed structure. |
7. a. A superior quality of brick, which can be cut and rubbed, called also cutting brick; used for arches of doorways and windows, quoins, etc.
| 1842 Gwilt Archit. (1876) 526 The finest marl stocks..are technically called firsts, or cutters..There is also a red cutting brick, whose texture is similar to the malm cutter, which must not be confounded with the red stock. 1881 Every man his own Mechanic §1152 The bricks are sorted into classes known as cutters..picked stocks, etc. |
b. An animal yielding an inferior grade of meat. orig. U.S.
| 1905 Chicago Daily News 3 July 7/7 Canners and cutters were rather slow, as packers did not care to secure them. 1916 Yorkshire Post 23 Feb. 10/6 Pigs continue to rise in value, 6{supd} extra per score being charged for cutters and sows. 1958 Times 1 July p. iii/4 Any line of demarcation between porkers and the rather heavier ‘cutters’ (near bacon weights) has practically disappeared. 1971 Daily Hampshire Gaz. (Northampton, Mass.) 12 Feb. 5/5 Prices per cwt. were:..24 cutters, up to $21.90. |
8. Comb., chiefly belonging to sense 4, as cutter-block, cutter-frame, cutter-screw, cutter-stock, various parts of cutting-machines or cutting-tools; cutter-bar, (a) a bar in which cutting-tools are so fastened as to serve for circular cutting, as in a machine for boring the inside of cylinders; (b) the bar in a mowing or reaping machine that bears the knives; cutter-dredge, -dredger, a river-dredge fitted with knives; cutter-grinder, an implement for sharpening the cutters of reaping machines, etc.; cutter-head, the revolving head of a tool with cutters or sharpened edges; cutter-loader, a machine that cuts coal from a coal-face and loads it on a conveyor; cutter-wheel, a wheel serving for cutting.
| 1831 Holland Manuf. Metal I. 217 If we suppose the cutter, or rather the cutter-frame to move upon a pivot. 1833 Ibid. II. 130 This cutter-block is constructed to slide upon the hollow cast iron shaft..a metal stopper inside connected with the cutter-head by pins. 1862 Chambers' Encycl. s.v. Cork, Cutter-wheels and other suitable machines are brought to bear on the revolving cork. 1873 J. Richards Wood-working Factories 80 Cutter-screws and bolts should be made of the very best refined iron. 1913 Thomas & Watt Improvem. Rivers (ed. 2) i. 100 The cutter dredge,..in which the material is loosened by a series of knives shaped so that they will not clog, fastened to a shaft and revolving close to the end of the suction pipe. 1940 Chambers's Techn. Dict. 218/2 Cutter dredger, a dredger of the sand-pump or suction type. 1948 Something Done (Central Office of Information) 19/2 Besides the Meco-Moore, two other British cutter-loaders are now in the advanced experimental stage. |
▪ II. cutter, n.2 Naut.
(ˈkʌtə(r))
[app. a specific use of cutter n.1 Some think it refers to cut v., comparing the early use of runner for a small fast vessel used as a dispatch boat, etc.; others would refer it more especially to the build, whereby it is, in Johnson's words, ‘a nimble boat that cuts the water’. The conjecture that it is possibly a corruption of catur is inadmissible.]
1. A boat, belonging to a ship of war, shorter and in proportion broader than the barge or pinnace, fitted for rowing and sailing, and used for carrying light stores, passengers, etc.
| 1745 P. Thomas Jrnl. Anson's Voy. 284, I have seen and heard six Times more Confusion..and Hurry in hoisting out one Cutter (or small Boat). 1748 Anson's Voy. ii. xiii. 276 The inconsiderable size of a Cutter belonging to a sixty gun ship, (being only an open boat about twenty-two feet in length). 1784 Cook's 3rd Voy. (1790) VI. 2227 Two sailors..went off with a six-oared cutter. c 1860 H. Stuart Seaman's Catech. 9 Cutters are used as despatch boats and for light work, such as answering signals, rowing guard, picking up a man overboard, or to assist in towing. |
2. A small, single-masted vessel, clinker- or carvel-built, furnished with a straight running bowsprit, and rigged much like a sloop, carrying a fore-and-aft main-sail, gaff-top-sail, stay-foresail, and jib; a style of building and rigging now much used in yachts.
According to an old French engraving of a naval action in 1779, and Rigging & Seamanship 1794, vol. I. last plate, the cutters of that time were rigged like the half of an old schooner, with square topsails.
revenue cutter (formerly custom-house cutter): a cutter-built vessel employed by the customs authorities for the prevention of smuggling, etc.; in U.S. applied to all vessels employed in this service whether steamers or sailing vessels; hence revenue cutter service, etc.
| 1762 Capt. Everitt in Naval Chron. XIII. 30 Let the Lurcher Cutter attend the Boats. 1769 Falconer Dict. Marine (1789), Cutter, a small vessel commonly navigated in the channel of England; it is furnished with one mast, and rigged as a sloop. Many of these vessels are used on an illicit trade, and others employed by the Government to seize them. 1799 Naval Chron. I. 441 The Hind Revenue Cutter. 1806 A. Duncan Nelson 14 The Rambler cutter was..engaged..with a French cutter. 1892 Whitaker's Alm. 606/1 In the first-class division, Mr. John Jameson's cutter, Iverna, built in 1890, headed the winning list. |
3. transf. A small light sledge or sleigh for one or two persons. Canada and U.S.
| 1803 ‘C. Caustic’ Poet. Petition against Tractorising Trumpery 37 Then condescend to be my crony, And guide my wild Parnassian pony, Till our aerial cutter runs Athwart ‘a wilderness of suns’! 1836 Backwoods of Canada 207 The usual equipages for travelling are the double sleigh..and cutter; the two former are drawn by two horses abreast, but the latter..has but one. 1857 B. Taylor North. Trav. xv. 155 The sleighing was superb. How I longed for a dashing American cutter, with a span of fast horses. 1887 Cornh. Mag. Mar. 261 The dainty Canadian ‘cutter’, with its..curved..runners. |
4. Comb., as cutter-built, cutter-rigged, adjs.; cutter-brig, ‘a vessel with square sails, a fore-and-aft main-sail, and a jigger-mast with a smaller one’ (Smyth); formerly brig cutter; cutter-gig, a boat of a size between a cutter and a gig; cutter-yacht, a yacht built and rigged like a cutter.
| [1799 Naval Chron. I. 255 They were met by a brig cutter.] Ibid. I. 261 The Perseverance [is] cutter-rigged. 1803 Ibid. X. 333 The squadron has sent in the..brig l'Aiguille..cutter built. 1805 Ibid. XIV. 340 Two large French Cutter Brigs ran alongside. c 1850 Rudim. Navig. (Weale) 101 In the Royal Navy, when cutter-built vessels are thus rigged, they are called Cutter Brigs. 1885 A. Brassey The Trades 309 We passed the bishop's smart little cutter-yacht. |
▪ III. cutter, n.3
Corruption or error for gutter.
| 1731 Bailey, Cutters, the little Streaks in the Beam of a Deer. |
▪ IV. ˈcutter, v. north. dial.
[app. cognate with G. dial. kuttern to coo like a dove, also applied to various other sounds; Sw. qvittra to chirp; cf. also ON. kvitta to rumour. But the Eng. word may be directly echoic, with iterative form: cf. whitter, whatter, chatter, mutter.]
1. intr. a. To whisper; to talk privately and confidentially. b. To coo like a pigeon.
| 1781 J. Hutton Tour Caves Gloss., Cutter, to whisper. 1803 R. Anderson Cumbrld. Ball. 66 I' the pantry the sweethearters cutter'd sae soft. 1855 Robinson Whitby Gloss., Cuttering, talking low. ‘They sat hottering and cuttering over the fire.’ 1869 Lonsdale Gloss., Cutter, to whisper. Cutterin, cooing like a pigeon. 1878 Cumbrld. Gloss., Cutter, to whisper or talk softly. |
2. To fondle, make much of. [Cf. cuiter.]
| 1746 Collier (Tim Bobbin) View Lanc. Dial. (1862) Introd. 36, I dunnaw meeon heaw fok harbort'n't or cuttern't o'er thee. 1787 Grose Prov. Gloss., Cutter, to fondle, or make much of, as a hen or goose of her young. 1825 in Brockett N. Country Gloss. |