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Look up cut and run in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.
Cut and run or cut-and-run is an idiomatic verb phrase meaning to "make off promptly" or to "hurry off". The phrase was in use by the 1700s to describe an act allowing a ship to make sail quickly in an urgent situation, by cutting free an anchor. Though initially referring to a literal act, the phrase was used figuratively by the mid-1800s in both the United States and England. The phrase is used pejoratively in political language, implying a panicked and cowardly retreat, and it has been used by politicians as a criticism of calls to withdraw troops from various armed conflicts, becoming particularly associated with the Iraq War and with the diction of the United States Republican Party. It has also been used in other contexts, such as in World War II military slang and to refer to a container shipping practice.
The phrase "to cut and run" was in use by the early 1700s, and Oxford English Dictionary cited the earliest printed usage of the phrase to The Boston News-Letter in 1704. [1]
It was defined by Englishman David Steel in 1794 as "to cut the cable and make sail instantly, without waiting to weigh anchor"; [2] late 19th century nautical dictionaries provide the same definition. [3] [4] Steel further described the practice as "quick but very expensive" but sometimes necessary in urgent or emergency situations, such as when the anchor is hooked on rocks and cannot be retrieved, in bad weather, when the anchor is on lee shore and the ship is in danger of embayment, or when one must quickly escape or pursue an enemy. [5] This practice was long in use by then, as it was described in 1623 by Henry Mainwaring in The Seaman's Dictionary: "Cut the cable in the hawse ; that is most commonly used when we ride in some storm and desire to set sail, but cannot stay the weighing of the anchor for fear of driving too much to leeward, or the like." [6] Instead of cutting the anchor by axe at the hawsehole, Steel offered an alternate method of slipping the anchor cable if time permitted, a method he felt wiser than cutting as it potentially prevented loss of anchor and cable. [5]
An alternative origin was given by Peter Kemp in 1976 and Richard Mayne in 2000 in reference to cutting a painter rope to release a moored ship or, on square rig ships, cutting ropeyarns holding sails stopped to the yards to let them fall unfurled. [7] Mayne felt this origin more plausible than a practice of cutting an anchor cable, given that anchors were expensive. [8]
Though "cut and run" initially referred to a literal act, it later came to be used figuratively. This usage was noted in The Sailor's Word-Book (1867) with the definition "to move off quickly; to quit occupation; to be gone". [3] Oxford English Dictionary defines the figurative, colloquial usage as "to make off promptly" or to "hurry off". [1] This usage initially conveyed a swift—though not necessarily panicked or disorganized—departure, and it appears in this sense in White-Jacket (1850) by American author Herman Melville, in Great Expectations (1861) by English author Charles Dickens, and in an 1863 personal letter by Alfred, Lord Tennyson. [1] [9]
In 2003, Paul Dickson defined the phrase in American military slang during World War II as describing an "operation consisting of a sudden attack followed by an immediate withdrawal, before a counterattack can be mounted". [10] Admiral Sir James Somerville used the phrase in this sense in summarizing the March 1942 operations of the Eastern Fleet for Hutchinson's Pictorial History of the War (1945). [11]
The phrase is also used in container shipping to refer to a practice where a vessel will leave at its prescribed departure time whether or not planned operations are finished; the operations are most often loading, so the vessel will leave behind cargo, but it may also refer to unloading. A vessel will cut and run for a variety of reasons, such as: to keep a schedule after delays and arrive at the next port on time, the berthing window ended, priority is being given to another vessel, or no stevedores are booked. [12] [13]
In May 2004, William Safire in The New York Times noted that the phrase, when used in reference to politics and war, lost its "lighthearted sense" and came to become a pejorative implying panic and "cowardice, going beyond an honorable surrender" and is "said in derogation of a policy to be opposed with the utmost repugnance". [9] Dana Milbank characterized the phrase as a slogan used by members of United States Republican Party, [14] [15] and in December 2015, Robert Entman identified the phrase as one of numerous memes or slogans that "trigger a series of instant, clear mental associations" lending to the "communicative success" of the Republican Party. [16] Linguist George Lakoff stated that the phrase is an example of the Republican Party's skill at "distilling an issue to a simple phrase" and analyzed the phrase as one that "presupposes that the opposite is to stand and fight". [17] In comments discussing the Iraq War, Leon Panetta and Evan Bayh positioned "stay the course" as the direct opposite. [18] [19]
In the United States, the phrase saw usage by politicians, both in the Republican Party and the Democratic Party, as a criticism of calls to withdraw from armed conflicts including the Lebanese Civil War, [20] [21] Vietnam War, [22] Somali Civil War, [9] and Iraq War, [23] [24] with which it became particularly associated. [14] [25] [26] Safire described the phrase as becoming "as highly charged as the war in Iraq" and characterized opposition to the war difficult due to George W. Bush's use of the phrase in April 2004. [18] It was also used in similarly in Australia in reference to the Iraq War [27] and the War in Afghanistan [28] and in the United Kingdom in reference to the Iraq War. [29]
The phrase was also used during the 2016 Republican presidential debates by Jeb Bush to describe Marco Rubio in reference to the Gang of Eight and immigration reform. [30] Variations on the phrase were used by Ken Mehlman, then Chairperson of the United States Republican National Committee, to describe the Democratic Party's call to withdraw troops from the Iraq War: "Some are saying we need to cut and run, others are saying we need to cut and jog, and still others are saying we need to cut and walk." [31]
We anticipated a cut-and-run operation [...] We rather expected the Japanese aircraft would attack at dawn, and that the Japanese force would then make an immediate get-away to the eastward, in order to avoid attack by the British land-based air in Ceylon.
The alternative, in the short and ugly phrase, is to cut and run — to withdraw from the multinational peacekeeping force and to bring the Marines home. It is not an appealing alternative. Any such order would be interpreted universally as a pusillanimous act. It would be seen as a surrender to terrorists, and it would invite repetitions. The multinational force would be disbanded; diplomatic efforts at internal reconciliation would be set back; factional bloodshed would return. The result might be to carve up Lebanon and to serve most of it to Syria on a platter.
A naval mine is a self-contained explosive device placed in water to damage or destroy surface ships or submarines. Unlike depth charges, mines are deposited and left to wait until they are triggered by the approach of, or contact with, any vessel or a particular vessel type, akin to anti-infantry or anti-vehicle mines. Naval mines can be used offensively, to hamper enemy shipping movements or lock vessels into a harbour; or defensively, to protect friendly vessels and create "safe" zones. Mines allow the minelaying force commander to concentrate warships or defensive assets in mine-free areas giving the adversary three choices: undertake an expensive and time-consuming minesweeping effort, accept the casualties of challenging the minefield, or use the unmined waters where the greatest concentration of enemy firepower will be encountered.
"The whole nine yards" or "the full nine yards" is a colloquial American English phrase meaning "everything, the whole lot" or, when used as an adjective, "all the way". Its first usage was the punch line of an 1855 Indiana comedic short story titled "The Judge's Big Shirt".
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A "flip-flop", U-turn, or backflip is a derogatory term for a sudden real or apparent change of policy or opinion by a public official, sometimes while trying to claim that the two positions are consistent with each other. It carries connotations of pandering and hypocrisy. Often, flip-flops occur during the period prior to or following an election in order to maximize the candidate's popularity.
Democrat Party is an epithet and pejorative for the Democratic Party of the United States, often used in a disparaging fashion by the party's opponents. While use of the term started out as non-hostile, it has grown in its negative use since the 1940s, in particular by members of the Republican Party—in party platforms, partisan speeches, and press releases—as well as by conservative commentators and third party politicians.
In politics, a front-runner is a leader in an electoral race. While the front-runner in athletic events is generally clear, a political front-runner, particularly in the presidential primary process, is less so as a potential nominee may lead in the polls, have the most name recognition, the most funds raised, or a combination of these. The front-runner is most often declared by the media who are following the race and is written about in a different style than his or her challengers.
A useful idiot or useful fool is a pejorative description of a person, suggesting that the person thinks they are fighting for a cause without fully comprehending the consequences of their actions, and who does not realize they are being cynically manipulated by the cause's leaders or by other political players. The term was often used during the Cold War to describe non-communists regarded as susceptible to communist propaganda and psychological manipulation. A number of authors attribute this phrase to Vladimir Lenin, but this attribution is not supported by any evidence. Similar terms exist in other languages.
This glossary of nautical terms is an alphabetical listing of terms and expressions connected with ships, shipping, seamanship and navigation on water. Some remain current, while many date from the 17th to 19th centuries. The word nautical derives from the Latin nauticus, from Greek nautikos, from nautēs: "sailor", from naus: "ship".
In politics, a dog whistle is the use of coded or suggestive language in political messaging to garner support from a particular group without provoking opposition. The concept is named after ultrasonic dog whistles, which are audible to dogs but not humans. Dog whistles use language that appears normal to the majority but communicates specific things to intended audiences. They are generally used to convey messages on issues likely to provoke controversy without attracting negative attention.
Wets and dries are British political terms that refer to opposing factions within the Conservative Party. The terms originated in the 1980s during the premiership of Margaret Thatcher: those who opposed some of Thatcher's more hard-line policies were often referred to by their opponents as "wets"; in response, supporters of Thatcher were referred to as "dries".
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"Wingnut", wing nut or wing-nut, is a pejorative American political term referring to a person who holds extreme, and often irrational, political views. It is a reference to the extreme "wings" of a party, and shares a name with the hardware fastener also known as a wingnut.
Garner's Modern English Usage (GMEU), written by Bryan A. Garner and published by Oxford University Press, is a usage dictionary and style guide for contemporary Modern English. It was first published in 1998 as A Dictionary of Modern American Usage, with a focus on American English, which it retained for the next two editions as Garner's Modern American Usage (GMAU). It was expanded to cover English more broadly in the 2016 fourth edition, under the present title. The work covers issues of usage, pronunciation, and style, from distinctions among commonly confused words and phrases to notes on how to prevent verbosity and obscurity. In addition, it contains essays about the English language. An abridged version of the first edition was also published as The Oxford Dictionary of American Usage and Style in 2000 and a similar version was published in The Chicago Manual of Style 16th edition in 2017. The latter includes three sections titled "Grammar", "Syntax" and "Word Usage", each with several subcategories.
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A false, coined, fake, bogus or pseudo-title, also called a Time-style adjective and an anarthrous nominal premodifier, is a kind of preposed appositive phrase before a noun predominantly found in journalistic writing. It formally resembles a title, in that it does not start with an article, but is a common noun phrase, not a title. An example is the phrase convicted bomber in "convicted bomber Timothy McVeigh", rather than "the convicted bomber Timothy McVeigh".
"Standpatter", or "stand-patter", was a term used in US political history in the early 20th century, during the Progressive Era, to describe the more conservative members of the Republican Party than other members, who were called "insurgents" or "progressives". The former were said to be philosophically similar to those of the earlier Stalwart faction.