[A humble request: If you can, please donate to help me carry on tracing word histories. Thank you.]

 

The British-English expression cackle-cutting, which is used as a noun and as an adjective, refers to the action of making someone stop chattering.

This expression originated in the colloquial imperative phrase cut the cackle (and come to the horses), which means: stop talking (and get to the heart of the matter).

These are, in chronological order, the earliest occurrences of the expression cackle-cutting that I have found:

1-: From Echoes of the Day, published in The Sporting Chronicle (Manchester, Lancashire, England) of Thursday 15^th December 1904 [page 2, column 1]:

I am of opinion that we ought to establish a close season for politicians, during which any person found discoursing in public on the forbidden topic should be severely dealt with in the interests of suffering humanity. The close season should last at least six months, which would not only give the struggling spouters a chance to recuperate, but would also afford a gratifying period of peace and quietness to those of us who have to bear with their exhortations. They deserve a holiday. So do we.
The great difficulty in dealing with these industrious politicians is to induce them to “cut the cackle and come to the ’osses.” Look at the amount of cackle that has been indulged in over the unemployed business, yet we don’t seem to be much nearer the ’osses, so far as a permanent solution of the problem is concerned. Of course they are all sorry for the poor hungry individual, but that doesn’t serve to fill his stomach satisfactorily. When the unemployed person asks for a loaf of bread, they give him a stone—of cackle. Isn’t it time we cut some of the latter commodity, either by a close season or otherwise? A simple expedient for cackle cutting occurs to me which is much in vogue at present. Near my palatial mansion is a farm where, for weeks, they have been surrounded by a continuous chorus of cackle, rendering the vicinity as bad as a political meeting. Now, in a few more days the chorus will be silenced in a thoroughly practical manner. The stout farmer will cut the cackle, and come to—the giblets. The system is beautifully effective, and I commend it to the notice of the other cacklers. All geese are alike to me.

2-: From the following television review, published in the Liverpool Echo and Evening Express (Liverpool, Lancashire, England) of Friday 2^nd January 1959 [page 2, column 2]:

ITV Cut The Variety Cackle

By cutting the cackle and assembling an impressive array of stars, ITV started the New Year in fine style last night.
The programme: “The 1959 Show.” The stars: Tommy Steele, Diana Dors, Peter Sellers, Cleo Laine, Margaret Rutherford…
And the cackle-cutting: doing without comperes, and presenting a programme with real zip.
Award-winning producer Joan Kemp-Welch followed up her prize for the best light entertainment production of 1958 with imaginative direction deserving a bouquet on the first day of ’59.
What a change this bill was from the sleep-inducing sagginess of so many variety shows. Tommy was right on-the-ball with his special brand of charm… Cleo sang to perfection… and Diana was—Diana, which was as things should be.
What performances, what pace… I only hope ITV can keep it up.

3-: From an advertisement for Harrison Gibsons’s furniture-shops, published in The Evening News & The Star (London, England) of Friday 24^th March 1961 [page 9, column 1]:

Cackle-cutting…
We’ve talked a great deal in this column about the wonderful Service of Harrison Gibsons. But let’s cut the cackle and tell you quite simply what the services actually are:
[&c.]

4-: From Middlesex Medley, by ‘Middle Saxon’, published in the Middlesex Chronicle (London, England) of Friday 14^th March 1969 [page 16, column 7]:

CACKLE CUTTING

Although your columnist modestly claims no credit for having pressurised the borough council into keeping more reasonable hours, it is nevertheless a pleasure to record that Hounslow’s six-weekly meeting went on to only 10 p.m. […]
Perhaps Tuesday’s meeting presages a drive to cut the cackle and press on with the more urgent and essential matters.