They First Exemplified the Art of Cutting
An elegant term, that is in equal request at the sister university, as well as amongst the coxcombs of the day, adds Wilson, though the members of St. John’s are celebrated for the origin of the term “to cut,”—i. e. “to look an old friend in the face, and affect not to know him,” which is the cut direct. Those who would be more deeply read in this art, which has been greatly improved since the days in which it originated, will find it at large in the Gradus ad Cantabrigiam.