(An abbreviation of acute.) Sharp; cunning; acute. It is provincial in various parts of England. In New England it is a common colloquialism, though never used by educated people.
Now, says I, I'm goin' to show you about as cute a thing as you've seen in many a day.--Maj. Downing's Letters, p. 214.
Mr. Marcy was a right cute, cunning sort of a man; but in that correspondence Gen. Taylor showed himself able to defend himself against the fire in the rear,--Mr. Gentry's Remarks at the Taylor Meeting in N. Y.
He had a pair of bright twinkling eyes, that gave an air of extreme cuteness to his physiognomy.--Knickerbocker Mag. Aug. 1845.