cut-through
A shortcut road or path locals know.
Also called shortcut.
Updated September 21, 2026
cut-through pronunciation
/KUT-throo/
Meaning
A cut-through is the back way that skips the highway jam: an alley, farm road, or path behind the school. GPS may miss it. Folks who grew up there know every cut-through in the county.
How folks use it
- “Take the cut-through by the mill if you want to beat the traffic.”
- “There's a cut-through behind the ball field that dumps you on Main Street.”
Origin and etymology
From the verb phrase cut through, meaning go across or bypass. In Southern and Appalachian talk it hardened into a noun for a known shortcut. Exact first print date is murky, but the habit of naming local bypasses this way is longstanding rural speech.