DCHP-2

half-cut half cut DCHP-2 (November 2016)

• adj. — slang

  drunk; intoxicated.

  Half-cut is an informal synonym for drunk (see the 1991 quotation). Although definitions of half-cut appear to suggest various degrees of intoxication, from 'half-drunk' (see OED-3, s.v. "half" (1d)) to 'fairly drunk' (see COD-2, s.v. "half-cut"), Canadian attestations seem to use half-cut to indicate a serious state of inebriation (see the 1979 and 2002 quotations). Although the term has been labelled as Canadian as a result of the "British connection" (Barber 2008: 238) , it is used internationally, particularly in Australia, the UK and Ireland (see Chart 1). OED-3's earliest attestation of the term (see OED-3, s.v. "half" (1d)) antedates the earliest found Canadian attestation by over 75 years (see the 1965 quotation). The term could perhaps be considered Canadian in the North American context, where it has a lower frequency, yet this evidence strikes us as too weak to label this term Canadian.
  See also COD-2, s.v. "half-cut", which is marked "Cdn& Brit.".