- This term is used in reference to non-major roads. They are usually residential and do not contain stoplights. People choose to "take the cuts" in order to avoid traffic on larger roadways. The word was formed by metaphor to the act of cutting through traffic to get to a destination.
Cuts
noun
Back roads
Etymology : Middle English (probably existing, although not recorded, in Old English ); probably of Germanic origin and related to Norwegian kutte and Icelandic kuta ‘cut with a small knife,’ kuti ‘small blunt knife.’
Source : "I'm tired of all these red lights, let's take the cuts" 10/15/11
Last modified: 5 December 2011