Idiom
cut to the chase
Meaning
To get to the point; to get on with it; to state something directly.
Meaning adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Examples
“Please cut to the chase and tell me what happened.”
“The meeting was running late, so the manager asked everyone to cut to the chase.”
“Tired of his colleague's endless preamble, he interrupted politely but firmly: 'Could you cut to the chase and explain what this proposal actually costs?'”
Examples
simple
“Please cut to the chase and tell me what happened.”
contextual
“The meeting was running late, so the manager asked everyone to cut to the chase.”
complex
“Tired of his colleague's endless preamble, he interrupted politely but firmly: 'Could you cut to the chase and explain what this proposal actually costs?'”
Origin
From cinema usage: to cut (edit a film) so as to get to the exciting part. Also, preceded by Chaucer c.1400, "The Wife of Bath's Tale"- "And shortly forth this tale for to chace" (To cut a long story short).
Key words
Related idioms
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