cut and dried
Preserved but no longer current.
Meaning · English
Already prepared. "He had a speech all cut and dried." The allusion is to timber, cut, dried, and fit for use. Sets of phrases, cut and dry, Evermore thy tongue supply.
Era: ca. 1898 (Victorian)
Sources & notes
Reproduced from Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (1898 edition, public domain; archive.org, retrieved 2026-07-31; OCR text, minor errors possible). Reflects the scholarship and attitudes of its era.
Common questions
What does “cut and dried” mean?
Already prepared. "He had a speech all cut and dried." The allusion is to timber, cut, dried, and fit for use. Sets of phrases, cut and dry, Evermore thy tongue supply.
Is “cut and dried” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.