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cut and dried

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cut and dried

fixed; determined beforehand; usual and uninteresting. (Can be hyphenated before nominals.) I find your writing quite boring. It's too cut and dried. The lecture was, as usual, cut and dried.

See also: and, cut, dried

cut and dried

Ready-made, predetermined and not changeable. For example, The procedure is not quite cut and dried-there's definitely room for improvisation. This expression originally alluded to herbs for sale in a shop, as opposed to fresh, growing herbs. [c. 1900]

See also: and, cut, dried