From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishcut up phrasal verb1 CUTcut into pieces cut something ↔ up to cut something into small pieces Could you cut the pizza up, please?cut something ↔ up into He cut the paper up into little pieces.2 driving cut somebody/something ↔ up British English to suddenly drive in front of a moving vehicle in a dangerous way Some idiot cut me up on the motorway.3 BEHAVEbehave badly American English informal to behave in a noisy or rude way4 cut up roughVIOLENT British English informal to react in an angry or violent way Careful how you approach him – he can cut up a bit rough if he’s got a mind to.5 criticize cut somebody ↔ up informal to criticize someone in an unpleasant way → cut up → cut→ See Verb table
Examples from the Corpus
cut up rough• But he can cut up rough and turn a bit nasty if he's got a mind to.cut upˌcut ˈup, cut-up adjective [not before noun] 1 informal very upset about something that has happenedcut up about He was very cut up about Stephen dying.2 → be badly cut upcut-upˈcut-up noun [countable] American English informal someone who makes other people laugh by doing amusing things, especially in a situation when they should not do thisExamples from the Corpus
cut-up• She was real cut-up about the hens. 