cut down
English
editPronunciation
editAudio (General Australian): (file)
Verb
editcut down (third-person singular simple present cuts down, present participle cutting down, simple past and past participle cut down)
- (intransitive, literally) To cut downward.
- (transitive, literally) To adulterate a drug
- We need to cut the cocaine down.
- (transitive) To bring down by cutting.
- They want to cut down several trees to make room for the parking lot.
- (idiomatic, transitive) To insult, to belittle.
- (idiomatic) To reduce the amount of something.
- He wants to cut down on extra steps.
- Please don't put the candy jar right next to my desk. I'm trying to cut down on sugar.
- 1961 October, “The winter timetables of British Railways: London Midland Region”, in Trains Illustrated, page 593:
- By wholesale omission of connections and by the use of a microscopic scale of photographic reproduction which makes some of the most important tables difficult to read, the size has been cut down from last winter's 580 to 520 pages only.
- (idiomatic, dated) To slay, often in great numbers.
- I will cut you down where you stand.
- (slang, intransitive, transitive) To shoot a gun; to shoot (someone or many people), usually to kill them.
- (slang, transitive, African-American Vernacular) To challenge (someone); to prove superiority to (someone).
Usage notes
edit- In all senses, the object may appear before or after the particle. If it is a pronoun, it MUST precede the particle.
Derived terms
editTranslations
editbring down a tree
|
insult, belittle
reduce the amount of something
|
Adjective
editcut down (comparative more cut down, superlative most cut down)
- Having been cut down; reduced in strength or power.
See also
editAnagrams
editCategories:
- English terms with audio pronunciation
- English lemmas
- English verbs
- English phrasal verbs
- English phrasal verbs formed with "down"
- English multiword terms
- English intransitive verbs
- English transitive verbs
- English terms with usage examples
- English idioms
- English terms with quotations
- English dated terms
- English slang
- African-American Vernacular English
- English adjectives
- en:Violence