Cuspis Cus"pis noun [ Latin ] A point; a sharp end.

Cussedness Cuss"ed·ness noun [ Cussed (for cursed ) + -ness .] Disposition to willful wrongdoing; malignity; perversity; cantankerousness; obstinacy. [ Slang or Colloq., U. S.]

In her opinion it was all pure " cussedness ."

Mrs. Humphry Ward.

Disputatiousness and perversity (what the Americans call " cussedness ").

James Bryce.

Custard Cus"tard noun [ Prob. the same word as Middle English crustade , crustate , a pie made with a crust, from Latin crustatus covered with a crust, past participle of crustare , from crusta crust; confer Old French croustade pasty, Italian crostata , or French coutarde . See Crust , and confer Crustated .] A mixture of milk and eggs, sweetened, and baked or boiled.

Custard apple (Botany) , a low tree or shrub of tropical America, including several species of Anona ( A. squamosa , reticulata , etc.), having a roundish or ovate fruit the size of a small orange, containing a soft, yellowish, edible pulp. -- Custard coffin , pastry, or crust, which covers or coffins a custard [ Obsolete] Shak.

Custode Cus"tode noun [ French or Italian custode , from Latin custos , -odis .] See Custodian .

Custodial Cus·to"di·al adjective [ Confer French custodial , from Latin custodia . See Custody .] Relating to custody or guardianship.

Custodian Cus·to"di·an noun [ From Custody .] One who has care or custody, as of some public building; a keeper or superintendent.

Custodianship Cus·to"di·an·ship noun Office or duty of a custodian.

Custodier Cus·to"di·er noun [ Confer Late Latin custodiarus .] A custodian. [ Scot.] Sir W. Scott.

Custody Cus"to·dy noun [ Latin custodia , from custos guard; probably akin to Greek .................. to hide, and English hide . See Hide to cover.] 1. A keeping or guarding; care, watch, inspection, for keeping, preservation, or security.

A fleet of thirty ships for the custody of the narrow seas.
Bacon.

2. Judicial or penal safe- keeping.

Jailer, take him to thy custody .
Shak.

3. State of being guarded and watched to prevent escape; restraint of liberty; confinement; imprisonment.

What pease will be given
To us enslaved, but custody severe,
And stripes and arbitrary punishment?
Milton.

Custom Cus"tom (kŭs"tŭm) noun [ Old French custume , costume , Anglo-Norman coustome , F. coutume , from (assumed) Late Latin consuetumen custom, habit, from Latin consuetudo , - dinis , from consuescere to accustom, verb inchoative from consuere to be accustomed; con- + suere to be accustomed, probably originally, to make one's own, from the root of suus one's own; akin to E. so , adverb Confer Consuetude , Costume .]

1. Frequent repetition of the same act; way of acting common to many; ordinary manner; habitual practice; usage; method of doing or living.

And teach customs which are not lawful.
Acts xvi. 21.

Moved beyond his custom , Gama said.
Tennyson.

A custom
More honored in the breach than the observance.
Shak.

2. Habitual buying of goods; practice of frequenting, as a shop, manufactory, etc., for making purchases or giving orders; business support.

Let him have your custom , but not your votes.
Addison.

3. (Law) Long-established practice, considered as unwritten law, and resting for authority on long consent; usage. See Usage , and Prescription .

» Usage is a fact. Custom is a law. There can be no custom without usage , though there may be usage without custom . Wharton.

4. Familiar aquaintance; familiarity. [ Obsolete]

Age can not wither her, nor custom stale
Her infinite variety.
Shak.

Custom of merchants , a system or code of customs by which affairs of commerce are regulated. -- General customs , those which extend over a state or kingdom. -- Particular customs , those which are limited to a city or district; as, the customs of London.

Syn. -- Practice; fashion. See Habit , and Usage .

Custom Cus"tom transitive verb [ Confer Old French costumer . Confer Accustom .]

1. To make familiar; to accustom. [ Obsolete] Gray.

2. To supply with customers. [ Obsolete] Bacon.

Custom Cus"tom intransitive verb To have a custom. [ Obsolete]

On a bridge he custometh to fight.
Spenser.

Custom Cus"tom noun [ Old French coustume , French coutume , tax, i. e. , the usual tax. See 1st Custom .] 1. The customary toll, tax, or tribute.

Render, therefore, to all their dues: tribute to whom tribute is due; custom to whom custom .
Rom. xiii. 7.

2. plural Duties or tolls imposed by law on commodities, imported or exported.

Custom Cus"tom transitive verb To pay the customs of. [ Obsolete] Marlowe.

Customable Cus"tom·a·ble (-ȧ*b'l) adjective [ Confer Old French coustumable .]

1. Customary. [ Obsolete] Sir T. More.

2. Subject to the payment of customs; dutiable.

Customableness Cus"tom·a·ble·ness noun Quality of being customable; conformity to custom. [ Obsolete]

Customably Cus"tom·a·bly adverb Usually. [ Obsolete] Milton.

Customarily Cus"tom·a·ri·ly (-a*rĭ*lȳ) adverb In a customary manner; habitually.

Customariness Cus"tom·a·ri·ness noun Quality of being customary.

Customary Cus"tom·a·ry (kŭs"tŭm*a*rȳ) adjective [ CF. Old French coustumier , French coutumier . See Custom , and confer Customer .]

1. Agreeing with, or established by, custom; established by common usage; conventional; habitual.

Even now I met him
With customary compliment.
Shak.

A formal customary attendance upon the offices.
South.

2. (Law) Holding or held by custom; as, customary tenants; customary service or estate.

Customary Cus"tom·a·ry noun [ Old French coustumier , F. coutumier .] A book containing laws and usages, or customs; as, the Customary of the Normans. Cowell.

Customer Cus"tom·er (kŭs"tŭm*ẽr) noun [ A doublet of customary , adjective : confer Late Latin custumarius toll gatherer. See Custom .]

1. One who collect customs; a toll gatherer. [ Obsolete]

The customers of the small or petty custom and of the subsidy do demand of them custom for kersey cloths.
Hakluyt.

2. One who regularly or repeatedly makes purchases of a trader; a purchaser; a buyer.

He has got at last the character of a good customer ; by this means he gets credit for something considerable, and then never pays for it.
Goldsmith.

3. A person with whom a business house has dealings; as, the customers of a bank. J. A. H. Murray.

4. A peculiar person; -- in an indefinite sense; as, a queer customer ; an ugly customer . [ Colloq.] Dickens.

5. A lewd woman. [ Obsolete] Shak.

Customhouse Cus"tom·house" (-hous`) noun The building where customs and duties are paid, and where vessels are entered or cleared.

Customhouse broker , an agent who acts for merchants in the business of entering and clearing goods and vessels.

Custos Cus"tos (kŭs"tŏs) noun ; plural Custodes (kŭs*tō"dēz). [ Latin ] A keeper; a custodian; a superintendent. [ Obsolete]

Custos rotulorum (rŏt`u*lō"rŭm) [ Late Latin , keeper of the rolls] (Eng. Law) , the principal justice of the peace in a county, who is also keeper of the rolls and records of the sessions of the peace.

Custrel Cus"trel (kŭs"tr e l) noun [ Old French coustillier . See Coistril .] An armor-bearer to a knight. [ Obsolete]

Custrel Cus"trel noun See Costrel . [ Obsolete] Ainsworth.

Custumary Cus"tu·ma·ry (-tu*ma*rȳ) adjective See Customary . [ Obsolete]

Cut Cut (kŭt) transitive verb [ imperfect & past participle Cut ; present participle & verbal noun Cutting .] [ Middle English cutten , kitten , ketten ; probably of Celtic origin; confer W. cwtau to shorten, curtail, dock, cwta bobtailed, cwt tail, skirt, Gael. cutaich to shorten, curtail, dock, cutach short, docked, cut a bobtail, piece, Ir. cut a short tail, cutach bobtailed. Confer Coot .] 1. To separate the parts of with, or as with, a sharp instrument; to make an incision in; to gash; to sever; to divide.

You must cut this flesh from off his breast.
Shak.

Before the whistling winds the vessels fly,
With rapid swiftness cut the liquid way.
Pope.

2. To sever and cause to fall for the purpose of gathering; to hew; to mow or reap.

Thy servants can skill to cut timer.
2. Chron. ii. 8

3. To sever and remove by cutting; to cut off; to dock; as, to cut the hair; to cut the nails.

4. To castrate or geld; as, to cut a horse.

5. To form or shape by cutting; to make by incision, hewing, etc.; to carve; to hew out.

Why should a man. whose blood is warm within,
Sit like his grandsire cut in alabaster?
Shak.

Loopholes cut through thickest shade.
Milton.

6. To wound or hurt deeply the sensibilities of; to pierce; to lacerate; as, sarcasm cuts to the quick.

The man was cut to the heart.
Addison.

7. To intersect; to cross; as, one line cuts another at right angles.

8. To refuse to recognize; to ignore; as, to cut a person in the street; to cut one's acquaintance. [ Colloq.]

9. To absent one's self from; as, to cut an appointment, a recitation. etc. [ Colloq.]

An English tradesman is always solicitous to cut the shop whenever he can do so with impunity.
Thomas Hamilton.

To cut a caper . See under Caper . -- To cut the cards , to divide a pack of cards into portions, in order to determine the deal or the trump, or to change the cards to be dealt. -- To cut a dash or a figure , to make a display. [ Colloq.] -- To cut down . (a) To sever and cause to fall; to fell; to prostrate. "Timber . . . cut down in the mountains of Cilicia." Knolles. (b) To put down; to abash; to humble. [ Obs] "So great is his natural eloquence, that he cuts doun the finest orator." Addison (c) To lessen; to retrench; to curtail; as, to cut down expenses. (d) (Nautical) To raze; as, to cut down a frigate into a sloop. -- To cut the knot or the Gordian knot , to dispose of a difficulty summarily; to solve it by prompt, arbitrary action, rather than by skill or patience. -- To cut lots , to determine lots by cuttings cards; to draw lots. -- To cut off . (a) To sever; to separate.

I would to God, . . .
The king had cut off my brother's.
Shak.

(b) To put an untimely death; to put an end to; to destroy. "Irenĉus was likewise cut off by martyrdom." Addison. (c) To interrupt; as, to cut off communication; to cut off (the flow of) steam from (the boiler to) a steam engine. (d) To intercept; as,, to cut off an enemy's retreat. (e) To end; to finish; as, to cut off further debate. -- To cut out . (a) To remove by cutting or carving; as, to cut out a piece from a board. (b) To shape or form by cutting; as, to cut out a garment. " A large forest cut out into walks." Addison. (c) To scheme; to contrive; to prepare; as, to cut out work for another day. "Every man had cut out a place for himself ." Addison. (d) To step in and take the place of; to supplant; as, to cut out a rival. [ Colloq.] (e) To debar. "I am cut out from anything but common acknowledgments." Pope. (f) To seize and carry off (a vessel) from a harbor, or from under the guns of an enemy. - - To cut to pieces . (a) To cut into pieces; as, to cut cloth to pieces . (b) To slaughter; as, to cut an army to pieces . -- To cut a play (Drama) , to shorten it by leaving out passages, to adapt it for the stage. -- To cut rates (Railroads, etc.) , to reduce the charges for transportation below the rates established between competing lines. -- To cut short , to arrest or check abruptly; to bring to a sudden termination. "Achilles cut him short , and thus replied." Dryden. -- To cut stick , to make off clandestinely or precipitately. [ Slang] -- To cut teeth , to put forth teeth; to have the teeth pierce through the gum and appear. -- To have cut one's eyeteeth , to be sharp and knowing. [ Colloq.] -- To cut one's wisdom teeth , to come to years of discretion. -- To cut under , to undersell; as, to cut under a competitor in trade. -- To cut up . (a) To cut to pieces; as, to cut up an animal, or bushes. (b) To damage or destroy; to injure; to wound; as, to cut up a book or its author by severe criticism. "This doctrine cuts up all government by the roots." Locke. (c) To afflict; to discourage; to demoralize; as, the death of his friend cut him up terribly. [ Colloq.] Thackeray.

Cut Cut (kŭt) intransitive verb 1. To do the work of an edged tool; to serve in dividing or gashing; as, a knife cuts well.

2. To admit of incision or severance; to yield to a cutting instrument.

Panels of white wood that cuts like cheese.
Holmes.

3. To perform the operation of dividing, severing, incising, intersecting, etc.; to use a cutting instrument.

He saved the lives of thousands by manner of cutting for the stone.
Pope.

4. To make a stroke with a whip.

5. To interfere, as a horse.

6. To move or make off quickly. [ Colloq.]

7. To divide a pack of cards into two portion to decide the deal or trump, or to change the order of the cards to be dealt.

To cut across , to pass over or through in the most direct way; as, to cut across a field. -- To cut and run , to make off suddenly and quickly; -- from the cutting of a ship's cable, when there is not time to raise the anchor. [ Colloq.] -- To cut in or into , to interrupt; to join in anything suddenly. -- To cut up . (a) To play pranks. [ Colloq.] (b) To divide into portions well or ill; to have the property left at one's death turn out well or poorly when divided among heirs, legatees, etc. [ Slang.] "When I die, may I cut up as well as Morgan Pendennis." Thackeray.

Cut Cut noun 1. An opening made with an edged instrument; a cleft; a gash; a slash; a wound made by cutting; as, a sword cut .

2. A stroke or blow or cutting motion with an edged instrument; a stroke or blow with a whip.

3. That which wounds the feelings, as a harsh remark or criticism, or a sarcasm; personal discourtesy, as neglecting to recognize an acquaintance when meeting him; a slight.

Rip called him by name, but the cur snarled, snapped his teeth, and passed on. This was an unkind cut indeed.
W. Irving.

4. A notch, passage, or channel made by cutting or digging; a furrow; a groove; as, a cut for a railroad.

This great cut or ditch Secostris . . . purposed to have made a great deal wider and deeper.
Knolles.

5. The surface left by a cut; as, a smooth or clear cut .

6. A portion severed or cut off; a division; as, a cut of beef; a cut of timber.

It should be understood, moreover, . . . that the group are not arbitrary cuts , but natural groups or types.
Dana.

7. An engraved block or plate; the impression from such an engraving; as, a book illustrated with fine cuts .

8. (a) The act of dividing a pack cards. (b) The right to divide; as, whose cut is it?

9. Manner in which a thing is cut or formed; shape; style; fashion; as, the cut of a garment.

With eyes severe and beard of formal cut .
Shak.

10. A common work horse; a gelding. [ Obsolete]

He'll buy me a cut , forth for to ride.
Beau. & Fl.

11. The failure of a college officer or student to be present at any appointed exercise. [ College Cant]

12. A skein of yarn. Wright.

A cut in rates (Railroad) , a reduction in fare, freight charges, etc., below the established rates. -- A short cut , a cross route which shortens the way and cuts off a circuitous passage. -- The cut of one's jib , the general appearance of a person. [ Colloq.] -- To draw cuts , to draw lots, as of paper, etc., cut unequal lengths.

Now draweth cut . . .
The which that hath the shortest shall begin.
Chaucer.

Cut Cut (kŭt) adjective 1. Gashed or divided, as by a cutting instrument.

2. Formed or shaped as by cutting; carved.

3. Overcome by liquor; tipsy. [ Slang]

Cut and dried , prepered beforehand; not spontaneous. -- Cut glass , glass having a surface ground and polished in facets or figures. - - Cut nail , a nail cut by machinery from a rolled plate of iron, in distinction from a wrought nail . -- Cut stone , stone hewn or chiseled to shape after having been split from the quarry.

Cut Cut transitive verb 1. (Cricket) To deflect (a bowled ball) to the off, with a chopping movement of the bat.

2. (Billiards, etc.) To drive (an object ball) to either side by hitting it fine on the other side with the cue ball or another object ball.

3. (Lawn Tennis, etc.) To strike (a ball) with the racket inclined or struck across the ball so as to put a certain spin on the ball.

4. (Croqu...t) To drive (a ball) to one side by hitting with another ball.

Cut Cut transitive verb -- To cut out , to separate from the midst of a number; as, to cut out a steer from a herd; to cut out a car from a train.

Cut Cut noun 1. (Lawn Tennis, etc.) A slanting stroke causing the ball to spin and bound irregularly; also, the spin so given to the ball.

2. (Cricket) A stroke on the off side between point and the wicket; also, one who plays this stroke.

Cut-off Cut"-off` (kŭt"ŏf`; 115) noun 1. That which cuts off or shortens, as a nearer passage or road.

2. (Machinery) (a) The valve gearing or mechanism by which steam is cut off from entering the cylinder of a steam engine after a definite point in a stroke, so as to allow the remainder of the stroke to be made by the expansive force of the steam already let in. See Expansion gear , under Expansion . (b) Any device for stopping or changing a current, as of grain or water in a spout.

Cut-out Cut"-out` (kŭt"out`) noun (a) (Telegraphy) A species of switch for changing the current from one circuit to another, or for shortening a circuit. (b) (Electricity) A device for breaking or separating a portion of circuit.

Cutaneous Cu·ta"ne·ous (ku*tā"ne*ŭs) adjective [ Confer French cutané , from Latin cutis skin. See Cuticle .] Of or pertaining to the skin; existing on, or affecting, the skin; as, a cutaneous disease; cutaneous absorption; cutaneous respiration.

Cutaway Cut"a·way` (kŭt"ȧ*wā`) adjective Having a part cut off or away; having the corners rounded or cut away.

Cutaway coat , a coat whose skirts are cut away in front so as not to meet at the bottom.

Cutch Cutch (kŭch; 224) noun See Catechu .

Cutch Cutch noun (Zoology) See Cultch .

Cutchery Cutch"er·y (kŭch"ẽr*ȳ) noun [ Hind. kachahri .] A hindoo hall of justice. Malcom.

Cute Cute (kūt) adjective [ An abbrev. of acute .] Clever; sharp; shrewd; ingenious; cunning. [ Colloq.]

Cuteness Cute"ness noun Acuteness; cunning. [ Colloq.]

Cutgrass Cut"grass` (kŭt"grȧs`). A grass with leaves having edges furnished with very minute hooked prickles, which form a cutting edge; one or more species of Leersia .

Cuticle Cu"ti·cle (kū"tĭ*k'l) noun [ Latin cuticula , dim. of cutis skin; akin to English hide skin of an animal.] 1. (Anat.) The scarfskin or epidermis. See Skin .

2. (Botany) The outermost skin or pellicle of a plant, found especially in leaves and young stems.

3. A thin skin formed on the surface of a liquid.

Cuticular Cu·tic"u·lar (ku*tĭk"u*lẽr) adjective Pertaining to the cuticle, or external coat of the skin; epidermal.

Cutin Cu"tin (kū"tĭn) noun [ Latin cutis skin, outside.] (Botany) The substance which, added to the material of a cell wall, makes it waterproof, as in cork.

Cutin Cu"tin (kū"tĭn) noun [ Latin cutis skin, outside.] (PLant Physiol.) A waxy substance which, combined with cellulose, forms a substance nearly impervious to water and constituting the cuticle in plants.

Cutinization Cu`tin·i·za"tion noun (Botany) The conversion of cell walls into a material which repels water, as in cork.

Cutinize Cu"tin·ize transitive verb & i. To change into cutin.

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