To write a software or doCUment distribution on magnetic tape for shipment. Has nothing to do with physically CUtting the medium! "CUtting a disk" has also been reported as live usage. Related slang usages are mainstream business' s "CUt a check", the recording industry' s "CUt a record", and the military' s "CUt an order". All of these usages reflect physical processes in obsolete recording and duplication technologies. The first stage in manufacturing an old-style vinyl record involved CUtting grooves in a stamping die with a precision lathe. More mundanely, the dominant technology for mass duplication of paper doCUments in pre-photocopying days involved "CUtting a stencil", punching away portions of the wax overlay on a silk screen. More directly, paper tape with holes punched in it was an important early storage medium. [Jargon File]