or splash, shine, verbal phr. (general).—To make a show; to attract attention through some idiosyncrasy of manner, appearance, or conduct. In the United States to CUT A SPLURGE or CUT A SWATHE. Fr., flamber; faire du flafla; and faire flouer.
1771. FOOTE, The Maid of Bath, I. But the squire does not intend to CUT A DASH till the spring.
1835. HALIBURTON (‘Sam Slick’), The Clockmaker, 1 S., ch. xxii. Well, they CUT as many SHINES as Uncle Peleg. One frigate they guessed would captivate, sink, or burn our whole navy.
1857. A. TROLLOPE, The Three Clerks, ch. xxxi. Gin and water was the ordinary tipple in the front parlour; and any one of its denizens inclined to CUT A DASH above his neighbours generally did so with a bottom of brandy.
1884. S. L. CLEMENS (‘Mark Twain’), The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, xxiii. It would a made a cow laugh to see the SHINES that old idiot CUT.
1885. G. A. SALA, in Daily Telegraph, 1 Sept., p. 5, col. 4. It is while they are in the land of the living that I should like to see the Australian Crœsuses spending their money. Why don’t they—to use a very vulgar but very expressive locution—CUT A SPLASH with their magnificent revenues?
