The butted end of a log.
1830. [Dixon H. Lewis of Alabama] weighs little short of 450 lbs., and is familiarly known as the But-cut.—Northern Watchman (Troy, N.Y.), Oct. 19. [John Quincy Adams styled Mr. Lewis “the Silenus of the House,—a Falstaff, without his wit and good humour.”]
1840. Nebuchadnezzar, the King of the Jews, couldn’t beat him at a speech: he’s the butt cut of Democracy.—John P. Kennedy, ‘Quodlibet,’ p. 190 (1860).
1851. In two hours more he [your horse] won’t be able to step over the butt cut of a broom straw.—J. J. Hooper, ‘Adventures of Captain Simon Suggs,’ &c., pp. 37–8 (Phila.).
1878. The “butt cut” of the tree lies as it fell.—J. H. Beadle, ‘Western Wilds,’ p. 143.
