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Phrase: cut and run

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spinny | 13:46 Thu 01st Jun 2006 | Phrases & Sayings
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where did the phrase "cut and run" originate? I have heard this phrase for many years and wondered what the original phrase referred to.
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Assuming you know the current meaning, the OED quotes Elements and Practice of Rigging and Seamanship (1794) which defines the phrase to mean "to cut the cable and make sail instantly, without waiting to weigh anchor." Here cable refers to the anchor line, hence the anchor is lost. Run is used in the sense of to sail downwind.
14:09 Thu 01st Jun 2006

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