to cut and run

Dictionary of American Words And Phrases by John Russell Bartlett.

To be off; to be gone.--Holloway's Prov. Dictionary.


Originally a nautical term. To cut the cable of a ship and make sail without waiting to weigh anchor.--Falconer's Dictionary.

They caught the leaders [in the Canadian revolt] and hanged them; tho' most of the first chop men cut and run, as usual in such cases.--Sam Slick.

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