cut adrift

cut adrift

To abandon or set free. Likened to a boat having its mooring cut so that it drifts freely in the water. I think it's about time that we cut adrift the extremists of the party. With funding dwindling, I bet the department cuts adrift our research project. No amount of money will bribe me into cutting adrift my morals, sir!

See also: adrift, cut

Farlex Dictionary of Idioms. © 2024 Farlex, Inc, all rights reserved.

cut adrift

Separated or detached; freed. For example, The dissenters were cut adrift from the denomination. This expression alludes to cutting the rope of a floating vessel so that it drifts without direction or purpose. The figurative use of adrift dates from the late 1600s.

See also: adrift, cut

The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer. Copyright © 2003, 1997 by The Christine Ammer 1992 Trust. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.