1
general::
1. Divide into smaller parts, break the continuity of, as in These meetings have cut up my whole day. [c. 1800] 2. Severely censure or criticize, as in The reviewer cut up the book mercilessly. [Mid-1700s] 3. 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." 4. Behave in a playful, comic, or boisterous way, as in On the last night of camp the children usually cut up. [Late 1800s] 5. 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]
American Heritage Idioms
2
general::
Phrase(s): cut someone up
Fig. to make someone laugh. • That comedian’s routine really cut me up. • Tommy’s rude noises cut the whole class up, but not the teacher., Phrase(s): cut up (about someone or something)
Sl. emotionally upset about someone or something. • She was all cut up about her divorce. • You could see how cut up she was., Phrase(s): cut someone or something up
Fig. to criticize someone or something severely. • Jane is such a gossip. She was really cutting Mrs. Jones up. • The professor really cut up my essay., Phrase(s): cut up
1. to act wildly; to show off and be troublesome; to act like a clown. • Tom, Billy! Stop cutting up, or I'll send you to the principal's office. • If you spent more time studying than cutting up, you'd get better grades. 2. Go to cut up (about someone or something)., Phrase(s): cut someone up
1. Lit. to gash or carve on someone by cutting. • The thugs cut him up badly, just for talking back. • They cut up their victim into pieces. 2. Fig. to cause someone severe emotional distress. • That rebuke really cut me up. • The critic really cut up the performer.
McGrawhill's American Idioms And Phrasal Verbs