cutoff vs shortcut

cutoff

noun
  • A road, path or channel that provides a shorter or quicker path; a shortcut. 

  • A cessation in a flow or activity. 

  • The point at which something terminates or to which it is limited. 

  • A device that stops the flow of a current. 

  • A device for saving steam by regulating its admission to the cylinder (see quotation at cut-off). 

  • Shorts made by cutting off the legs from trousers. 

  • The player who acts directly before the player on the button pre-flop. 

  • A horizontal line separating sections of the page. 

  • A cutoff point (cutoff value, threshold value, cutpoint): the amount set by an operational definition as the transition point between states in a discretization or dichotomization. 

adj
  • Constituting a limit or ending. 

  • Designating a score or value demarcating the presence (or absence) of a disease, condition, or similar. 

shortcut

noun
  • A path between two points that is faster than the commonly used paths. 

  • A keyboard shortcut: a combination of keystrokes that provides easier access to a command or operation. 

  • A method to accomplish something that omits one or more steps. 

  • A file that points to the location of another file and serves as a quick way to access it. 

verb
  • To take or use a shortcut 

How often have the words cutoff and shortcut occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )