A common way of deciding by lot, is to place several slips of paper or straws, of different length, in a person's hand, which are drawn out by others. This is called drawing cuts. The practice and the term are very old, as will be seen by the following examples:
And ther they were at a long stryf which of them shulde go; and so at last they acorded and sware, and made promyse before all the company, that they shulde drawe cuttes, and he that shulde have the longest strawe shulde go forthe, and the other abyde.--Lord Berners, Froissart Cronycle, Vol. I. p. 288.
My lady Zelmane, and my daughter Mopsa may draw cuts, and the shortest cut speak first.--Sidney.