Chiefly Sc. or nonce-wd. One who cuts throats; a cutthroat, an assassin.
1535. Stewart, Cron. Scot. (Rolls), III. 18. Of throt-cutteris and all sic cursit cryme, And murderaris of leill men be the way.
1567. Satir. Poems Reform., vii. 66. Bludy bucheouris and throtcutters.
a. 1598. Rollock, Wks. (Wodrow Soc.), II. xv. 172. Two vagabonds, two throat-cutters.
1840. Thackeray, Paris Sk.-Bk., Wks. 1900, V. 209. An executioner … had come … to assist the professional throat-cutter.
So Throat-cutting vbl. sb., the cutting of the throat; ppl. a., that cuts the throat.
1655. Gurnall, Chr. in Arm., verse 14. I. iii. (1679). 7/2. He buys his Sleep dear, that pays his throat-cutting for it.
1840. Gen. P. Thompson, Exerc. (1842), V. 23. Then come the murders, the throat-cuttings, the massacres of prisoners.
1859. Habits Gd. Soc., iii. 132. How difficult … has it been to abolish the stiff black hat and the throat-cutting collar.
