Cut

An area of severed skin. Wash a cut or scrape it with soap and water, and keep it clean and dry. Putting alcohol, hydrogen peroxide, or iodine into a wound can delay healing, and should be avoided. Seek medical care if you think you might need stitches, as delay can increase the rate of wound infection. If the cut results from a puncture wound through the shoe, there is a high risk of infection, and you should see your healthcare professional. Redness, swelling, increased pain, and pus draining from the wound also indicate an infection that requires professional care.

* * *

1. In molecular biology, a hydrolytic cleavage of two opposing phosphodiester bonds in a double-stranded nucleic acid. Cf.:nick. 2. To sever or divide. 3. To separate into fractions. 4. An informal term for a fraction.

* * *

cut 'kət vb, cut; cut·ting vt

1 a) to penetrate with or as if with an edged instrument

b) to cut or operate on in surgery: as (1) to subject (a domestic animal) to castration (2) to perform lithotomy on

c) to experience the emergence of (a tooth) through the gum

2) to subject to trimming or paring <\cut one's nails> vi

1) to function as or in the manner of an edged tool <a knife that \cuts well>

2) to cut in surgery: OPERATE

cut n

1) a product of cutting: as

a) an opening made with an edged instrument

b) a wound made by something sharp

2) a stroke or blow with the edge of a sharp implement (as a knife)

* * *

(kut) a narrow cleft or wound made by a sharp edge.