cut and dried
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Related to cut and dried: cut around
cut and dried
Prearranged, unchangeable, and dull. When it appears before a noun, the phrase is usually hyphenated. The coursework is cut and dried, so don't even think about coming to me in pursuit of extra credit. There are no cut-and-dried solutions here. We need to come up with something.
cut and dried
fixed; determined beforehand; usual and uninteresting. (Can be hyphenated before nominals.) I find your writing quite boring. It's too cut and dried. The lecture was, as usual, cut and dried.
cut and dried
Ready-made, predetermined and not changeable. For example, The procedure is not quite cut and dried-there's definitely room for improvisation. This expression originally alluded to herbs for sale in a shop, as opposed to fresh, growing herbs. [c. 1900]
cut and dried
COMMON If a situation or issue is cut and dried, it is clear and definite. Now, this situation is not as cut and dried as it may seem. The link between stress and heart attacks is by no means cut and dried, although most people feel intuitively that it exists. There are no cut-and-dried answers to the problem. What appeared to be a cut-and-dried issue, may in fact be a little more complex. Note: One explanation for this expression is that it refers to wood which has been cut and dried and is ready to use. Alternatively, it may refer to herbs that have been harvested and dried, to be used for cooking and medicine.
cut and dried
(of a situation, issue, or ideas) completely settled or decided.A distinction was originally made between the cut and dried herbs sold in herbalists' shops and growing herbs.