cut n Cp O Sup² ~ 23 c 'a number of sheep or cattle cut out from flock or herd' (1888-) for sense 1.
   1 The number of walruses, seals, etc, taken from a herd for killing; a slaughter; cp CUT v 1.
   [1766] 1971 BANKS 148 [The walruses] Continue Landing for some time Tumbling one over the other & the hinder ones still driving forward those that are before them till a quantity sufficient for a Cut as [the Magdalen Island hunters] call it are Drove far Enough from the water the People then Begin with Clubs to beat the hindermost of those they chuse to take who imagining the Blows to Proceed from the teeth of those who come after still continue to drive those who lie before them. 1924 ENGLAND 92 All seal life has vanished. The first 'whitecoat cut' has been made.
   2 The course of a sealing vessel through the ice-floes.
   1924 ENGLAND 80 The Thetis and Diana dogged our every 'jife' and 'cut.' They spied on us. 1933 GREENE xv Cut is the course selected, by each Captain, as the best or shortest ice passage to the Patch.
   3 In hauling a cod trap, a portion of netting raised by ropes so as to force the fish back toward the end of the net; TUCK v.
   P 80-64 ~ s. Intersects of linnet formed when cod trap is tucked. T 43/7-64 Then you get another cut o' linnet in and you gather up again the top linnet and you push that out underneath. 1967 FIRESTONE 92 The punt then moves along that end of the trap and the men aboard it and those aboard the motor boat proceed to haul netting out of the trap and stretch it between the boats forming cuts [ridges] of linnet which restricts the fish. These cuts continue to be made as the punt proceeds towards and then along the seaward side of the trap and accordingly the fish are forced into the end of the trap. P 9-73 The second hand hooks up the spanline buoy and lifts the line over the boat's head and passes it back to her middle. A point here is that the second hand attends to the forward cuts and the skipper to the stern cuts. The cuts or double linnet is a particular job and requires an expert to handle.

Go Back