cutoff

[ kuht-awf, -of ]

noun

1. an act or instance of cutting off.
2. something that cuts off.
3. a road, passage, etc., that leaves another, usually providing a shortcut:

   Let's take the cutoff to Baltimore.

4. a new and shorter channel formed in a river by the water cutting across a bend in its course.
5. a point, time, or stage serving as the limit beyond which something is no longer effective, applicable, or possible.
6. cutoffs, Also cut-offs. shorts made by cutting the legs off a pair of trousers, especially jeans, above the knees and often leaving the cut edges ragged.
7. Accounting. a selected point at which records are considered complete for the purpose of settling accounts, taking inventory, etc.
8. Baseball. an infielder's interception of a ball thrown from the outfield in order to relay it to home plate or keep a base runner from advancing.
9. Machinery. arrest of the steam moving the pistons of an engine, usually occurring before the completion of a stroke.
10. Electronics. (in a vacuum tube) the minimum grid potential preventing an anode current.
11. Rocketry. the termination of propulsion, either by shutting off the propellant flow or by stopping the combustion of the propellant.

adjective

1. being or constituting the limit or ending:

   a cutoff date for making changes.

Word History and Origins

Origin of cutoff¹

First recorded in 1735–45; noun use of verb phrase cut off

Example Sentences

It was all over in about an hour, with people toward the back of the line dispersing once it became clear they wouldn’t make the cutoff.

From Los Angeles Times

When Costa-Hawkins became law it barred cities that established cutoff dates for rent control from extending them, while allowing other jurisdictions to impose rent control on buildings built up to 1995.

From Los Angeles Times

Ukraine interprets that as meaning he might try to use a potential cutoff of U.S. military aid as a way of coercing Ukraine into a resolution with terms highly favorable to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

From Los Angeles Times

A man with a scruffy beard and cutoff sweatpants who declined to give his name, said that he didn’t think the candidate’s time in fast food was of “merit.”

From Los Angeles Times

Meanwhile, a pivot to advocating for a cutoff of weapons to Israel would help Harris win the presidency.

From Salon