cut (one's) losses
(redirected from cut her losses)cut (one's) losses
To stop an action that has resulted in loss or failure or leave a failing situation before it gets worse. Man, this venture is going nowhere—I think we're better off cutting our losses than agreeing to rent this space for another year.
cut one's losses
to do something to stop a loss of something. I knew I had to do something to cut my losses, but it was almost too late. Sell some of the high-priced stuff to cut your losses.
cut one's losses
Withdraw from a losing situation, as in They decided to close down the unprofitable branch and cut their losses. This expression uses cut in the sense of "reduce" (also see cut down, def. 2).
cut your losses
COMMON If you cut your losses, you decide to stop spending time, energy, or money on an activity or situation on which you have already spent a lot without having any success. Competition in the market was so strong, we decided to cut our losses and close the business. Only you can decide if you should push on to the end of your degree or cut your losses and get out.
cut your losses
abandon an enterprise or course of action that is clearly going to be unprofitable or unsuccessful before you suffer too much loss or harm.The sense of cut here is probably ‘sever yourself from’ rather than ‘reduce in size’.
1991 Jane Smiley A Thousand Acres Ginny is eternally hopeful, you know. She never cuts her losses. She always thinks things could change.
cut your ˈlosses
stop doing something that is not successful before the situation becomes even worse: When our rent went up we decided to cut our losses and close the store.cut (one's) losses
To withdraw from a losing situation.