"cut down to size" meaning in English

{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "cuts down to size",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "cutting down to size",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "cut down to size",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "cut down to size",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "cut<,,cut> down to size"
      },
      "expansion": "cut down to size (third-person singular simple present cuts down to size, present participle cutting down to size, simple past and past participle cut down to size)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "2000, Efraim Karsh, Fabricating Israeli History: The \"new Historians\", page 152:",
          "text": "The war was seen by the Foreign Office as a golden opportunity to undo the UN Partition Resolution and cut Israel down to size'.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2003, Gordon Donnell, Starliner, page 10:",
          "text": "The system cut everybody down to size. I felt small and vulnerable.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2015, Anita Anand, Sophia: Princess, Suffragette, Revolutionary, page 87:",
          "text": "If Arthur Oliphant's aim had been to cut them down to size, it worked: photographs taken at Somerville College in 1888 show Bamba and her sister looking diffident.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To humble or humiliate, especially someone or something that is perceived as overly domineering or too proud."
      ],
      "id": "en-cut_down_to_size-en-verb-WXsFYyon",
      "links": [
        [
          "humble",
          "humble"
        ],
        [
          "humiliate",
          "humiliate"
        ]
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "_dis": "18 82",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "19 81",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with 1 entry",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "11 89",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with entries",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1995, Sidney Winter, Small and Medium-size Enterprises in Economic Development:",
          "text": "There is, however, another general approach to cutting the potential client population down to size: establish criteria, grounded in the Bank's basic strategy, that restrict the range of enterprises that the Bank tries to reach.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2007, Vannessa Goodship, Introduction to Plastics Recycling, page 55:",
          "text": "As the plastic moves between the stationary and rotating blades it is cut down to size.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see cut, down, size."
      ],
      "id": "en-cut_down_to_size-en-verb-gMNZq8s7",
      "links": [
        [
          "cut",
          "cut#English"
        ],
        [
          "down",
          "down#English"
        ],
        [
          "size",
          "size#English"
        ]
      ],
      "related": [
        {
          "_dis1": "23 77",
          "word": "bring low"
        }
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "_dis1": "23 77",
          "word": "bring down to size"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "23 77",
          "word": "knock down to size"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "23 77",
          "word": "trim down to size"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "23 77",
          "word": "whittle down to size"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "cut down to size"
}

{
  "categories": [
    "English entries with incorrect language header",
    "English lemmas",
    "English multiword terms",
    "English verbs",
    "Pages with 1 entry",
    "Pages with entries"
  ],
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "cuts down to size",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "cutting down to size",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "cut down to size",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "cut down to size",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "cut<,,cut> down to size"
      },
      "expansion": "cut down to size (third-person singular simple present cuts down to size, present participle cutting down to size, simple past and past participle cut down to size)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "related": [
    {
      "word": "bring low"
    }
  ],
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English terms with quotations"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "2000, Efraim Karsh, Fabricating Israeli History: The \"new Historians\", page 152:",
          "text": "The war was seen by the Foreign Office as a golden opportunity to undo the UN Partition Resolution and cut Israel down to size'.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2003, Gordon Donnell, Starliner, page 10:",
          "text": "The system cut everybody down to size. I felt small and vulnerable.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2015, Anita Anand, Sophia: Princess, Suffragette, Revolutionary, page 87:",
          "text": "If Arthur Oliphant's aim had been to cut them down to size, it worked: photographs taken at Somerville College in 1888 show Bamba and her sister looking diffident.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To humble or humiliate, especially someone or something that is perceived as overly domineering or too proud."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "humble",
          "humble"
        ],
        [
          "humiliate",
          "humiliate"
        ]
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "English terms with quotations"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1995, Sidney Winter, Small and Medium-size Enterprises in Economic Development:",
          "text": "There is, however, another general approach to cutting the potential client population down to size: establish criteria, grounded in the Bank's basic strategy, that restrict the range of enterprises that the Bank tries to reach.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2007, Vannessa Goodship, Introduction to Plastics Recycling, page 55:",
          "text": "As the plastic moves between the stationary and rotating blades it is cut down to size.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see cut, down, size."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "cut",
          "cut#English"
        ],
        [
          "down",
          "down#English"
        ],
        [
          "size",
          "size#English"
        ]
      ]
    }
  ],
  "synonyms": [
    {
      "word": "bring down to size"
    },
    {
      "word": "knock down to size"
    },
    {
      "word": "trim down to size"
    },
    {
      "word": "whittle down to size"
    }
  ],
  "word": "cut down to size"
}