cut out for, to be

cut out for someone or something

to run hurriedly toward someone or something. At the last minute, he cut out for the gate, which was closing very fast. The child cut out for his mother, who had come to get him at school.See also: cut, out

cut out for something

suited for something. She was bright and she loved to read. Her folks thought she was cut out for being a schoolteacher. He did his best, but he just wasn't cut out for farming.See also: cut, out

cut out for, to be

To be suited for or capable of some activity or position. The term comes from tailoring, where cloth is cut out (into pieces) to make a specific garment. It was used figuratively by 1700. An early appearance occurs in Gilbert Burnet’s History of My Own Times (ca. 1715): “He was not cut out for a Court.”See also: cut, out