Idiom
Cut the mustard
If someone or something cuts the mustard, they are good enough to meet the standard or do what is needed.
How people use it
It is most often used in the negative: "The new goalkeeper just doesn't cut the mustard." People use it about workers, products, players and plans that fall short of expectations. The tone is informal and a little old-fashioned, but it is still widely understood. It usually describes ability or quality, not effort; someone can try hard and still not cut the mustard. Similar phrases include "make the grade" and "up to snuff." Do not mix it up with "pass muster," which means much the same thing but has a different source.
Also said: can't cut the mustard.
Examples
- The first draft was fine, but it didn't cut the mustard for the final contest.
- After a month, the manager decided the new software just couldn't cut the mustard.
- Ana worried her old running shoes wouldn't cut the mustard on a mountain trail.
Where it comes from
No one knows for sure. The phrase is American and appears in print around 1900; the writer O. Henry used it in a 1904 book. Around that time "mustard" was slang for the best or the real thing, so cutting the mustard may have meant matching the best. Other theories point to mustard being hard to cut or harvest by hand. The popular idea that it is a garbled form of "pass muster" is not supported by the records.
Check yourself
1. If a coach says a player doesn't cut the mustard, what does he mean?
Answer: The player is not good enough. To cut the mustard is to meet the standard, so not cutting it means falling short.
2. Which sentence uses the idiom correctly?
Answer: Our old laptop can't cut the mustard for video editing anymore.. The idiom means being good enough for a job, as with the laptop, not handling real mustard.
Similar idioms
Word game fan? See every word hiding in MUSTARD.