cutthroat

See also: cut-throat

English

Alternative forms

• cut-throat
• cut throat

Etymology

From cut ‎ throat.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈkʌtθɹoʊt/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

Noun

cutthroat (countable and uncountable, plural cutthroats)

1. A murderer who slits the throats of victims.
2. An unscrupulous, ruthless or unethical person.
3. (uncountable) A three-player pocket billiards game where the object is to be the last player with at least one ball still on the table.
4. (linguistics) Short for cutthroat compound (“an agentive-instrumental verb-noun compound word”).
   • 2015 May 22, Stan Carey, “The Kick-butt World of Cutthroat Compounds”, in Slate Lexicon Valley‎^[1]:

     Children go through a phase of compound acquisition in which they invent cutthroats spontaneously before dropping the habit again.

Derived terms

• cutthroat trout

 

Translations

murderer

• Azerbaijani: başkəsən
• Belarusian: галаварэ́з m (halavaréz)
• Bulgarian: главоре́з (bg) m (glavoréz)
• Czech: hrdlořez m
• French: coupe-jarret (fr) m
• Georgian: ყასაბი (ka) (q̇asabi)
• German: Halsabschneider (de) m
• Italian: tagliagole (it) m
• Kazakh: баскесер (baskeser)
• Latvian: rīkļurāvējs m
• Polish: nożownik (pl) m, rzezimieszek (pl) m
• Portuguese: degolador m
• Russian: головоре́з (ru) m (golovoréz)
• Slovak: hrdlorez m
• Spanish: degollador m
• Swedish: mördare (sv) c
• Ukrainian: головорі́з m (holovoríz), горлорі́з m (horloríz)

unscrupulous, ruthless or unethical person

• Bulgarian: главоре́з (bg) m (glavoréz)
• German: Halsabschneider (de) m
• Polish: bandyta (pl) m, zbir (pl) m, rzezimieszek (pl) m
• Russian: головоре́з (ru) m (golovoréz)
• Spanish: canalla (es)

Adjective

cutthroat (comparative more cutthroat, superlative most cutthroat)

1. Involving the cutting of throats.
2. Of or relating to a card game where everyone plays for him or herself rather than playing with a partner.

   He found that playing cutthroat Spades was much more difficult than playing with a partner.

3. Ruthlessly competitive, dog-eat-dog.

   Law is a cutthroat business, you always have to look out to see who is trying to outdo you.

Translations

very competitive, dog-eat-dog

• German: mörderisch (de), halsabschneiderisch, rücksichtslos (de), hemmungslos (de)
• Hungarian: gyilkos (hu), öldöklő (hu), késhegyre menő (hu)
• Spanish: canallesco
• Swedish: mördande (sv)

Related terms

• cutthroat eel