cut v DC cut throat 1 (Nfld: 1818-), DAE 2 (1842) for comb in sense 3.
   1 At the seal hunt, to kill seals and load them on a vessel, the term being from the practice of cutting the pelt and fat from the carcass.
   1937 DEVINE 17 The patch of seals is 'cut' when nearly all in sight are killed and hauled on board. T 80/1-64 They left Twillingate and come out here, and cut a patch o' seals, and captured a load of seals.
   2 Phr cut off (the linnet/twine): when hauling a cod-trap, to draw up certain ropes so as to entrap the fish in one section of the net.
   P 9-73 Cutting off is where the expert is required at either end of the boat. If the cut linnet is not handled properly a loop [of the net] can be let down and the fish lost.
   cut out (a young seal): to select and kill a young 'white-coat' from among a patch of seals.
   1873 CARROLL 27-8 When the young ones were cut out of them they were much larger than the run of young harps cut out of female harps on the 10th March. T 141/65-65² Billy had a stuffed seal, just a cat cut out o' the old ones in the fall.
   cut tails: to cut a notch in the tail of a cod-fish to indicate the fisherman who caught it. See cut-tail below.
   1866 WILSON 212 Some of the fishermen are not engaged for wages, but are on shares, and are said to cut their tails; which means that they cut a piece from the tail of the fish as soon as it is taken out of the water, by which the man's fish is known from the rest. Of this fish one half is his, as wages, and the other half belongs to the planter for the supplies. 1936 SMITH 13 I went with Uncle Harry, as he was commonly called, in the 'highrat'; three hands and I cut the tails of my fish to know them when they dried. 1955 ENGLISH 36 [proverb] Don't cut tails. Don't be too particular. Fish tails were cut as a mark. P 211-68 Bellamer boys were usually recruited to go afloat and cut their tails. 1976 Decks Awash v (4), p. 19 I started fishing in 1916 when I was eleven, at Cut Throat Islands. I was supposed to cut tails and go jigging.
   cut throats: in preparing cod for salting and drying, to cut the throat of the fish and slit the belly open to the vent. See cut-throat below.
   T 175/6-65 I cut throats for two splitters, two fast splitters.
   3 Comb cut-off: a make-shift shoe made by cutting down a long rubber boot.
   P 113-65 ~ rubber boot cut down into slipper size, and used for house wear or for short excursions out of doors (e.g. to get an armful of wood). P 118-66 ~ hip rubbers cut off just below the knees usually because the knees are worn out.
   cut pole: a slender fir no more than one inch in diameter, with branches removed, used when fishing for trout.
   P 27-80 If you come across a cut pole, there was a fellow there [at the river] before you.
   cut-tail: a cod-fish identified by a notch in the tail made by an apprentice fisherman or supernumerary on the boat who caught it; also attrib.
   T 96/9-64¹ When they go splitting the fish, my mother'd [be] picking out the ones with the tails cut, the cut-tails. 1974 SQUIRE 71 I went to the Labrador as a cut-tail man which meant that the only share of the voyage I got was what I caught myself and marked by cutting a corner off the tail of the fish—hence the term cut-tail man.
   cut-throat(er): (a) fisherman who cuts the throat of the cod-fish and slits the belly open from gills to vent in preparation for salting; (b) two-edged knife used in this process; also in place-names.
   (a) [1794] 1968 THOMAS 181 The names of Header, Cutt Throat, Carver, Splitter and Salter are the appellations given the Fishermen who perform the various offices in the stages or in the Rooms. [1810] 1971 ANSPACH 21 On the forepart of the stage is a table on one side of which is the cut-throat, and on his right, the Header... The cut-throat takes the fish upon the table, cuts with a knife the throat down to the nave[l], then [pushes] it to the Header. 1863 HIND i, 304 The cut-throat, armed with a two-edged knife, seizes the fish by the eyes, cuts his throat, and, having opened it down to the vent with a single stroke of his knife, passes it to the header. 1926 HARVEY 11 Day and night for several weeks 'headers,' 'cut-throats,' 'splitters,' 'salters,' were at work. T 43-64 The cut-throater would dive over and pick up two fish, cut them and pass them along to the header. (b) 1878 Nfld Pilot 433 Splitting Knife bight ... lies on the north-east shore... Cut-throat harbour is a narrow creek running in from the west side. 1909 BROWNE 279 ~ a double-bladed weapon, not unlike a stiletto. T 183-65 Then somebody'd jump down with a cut throat and stick a gaff into him, and cut him open. P 148-68 The table once smooth is now all humps and hollows, worn down by the scraping of the cut throats and splitting knives.
   cutwater: one of the projecting edges of a caribou horn.
   1892 HOWLEY MS Reminiscences 11 He has a nice set of horns just peeled, indeed some fragments of the velvet are still hanging on. They have three frontal tines or cutwaters as the lads call them.

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