cut and run

Idioms and Phrases

Clear out, escape, desert, as in He wished he could just cut and run . This term originally (about 1700) meant to cut a vessel's anchor cable and make sail at once. By the mid-1800s it was being used figuratively. Charles Dickens had it in Great Expectations (1861): “I'd give a shilling if they had cut and run.” Also see cut out , def. 7.

Example Sentences

The pay package, he said, “is not actually cash, and I can’t cut and run, nor would I want to.”

From New York Times

The pay package, he said, “is not actually cash, and I can’t cut and run, nor would I want to.”

From New York Times

The Cut and Run exhibit attracted 180,000 visitors during its 10-week run before closing on Monday.

From BBC

A message on the Cut and Run website now reads: "Thanks Glasgow, it's been a blast."

From BBC

A message on the website for the "Cut and Run" exhibition says, "thanks Glasgow, it's been a blast".

From BBC

Related Words

• avoid
• depart
• disappear
• dodge
• elude
• emerge
• evade
• flee
• fly
• leave
• run
• slip
• slip away
• vanish