cut-out

a dress with cut-out sides

The sentry didn't answer. Taking a closer look at him I realised he wasn't a real sentry but a cut-out sentry, guarding not a real but a cut-out border.

A cut-out, or intermediary, forms the link between two agents or between an agent and the outside world. He may know very little about the organization and just carry messages, or he may be a liaison officer who is able to answer questions and take decisions; but the important thing is that he should not undertake any other subversive activity. […] A cut-out should be able to contact inconspicuously each of the two agents between whom he is the link.

The automatic magnetic cut out, opens the circuit between battery and generator when the generator is running slow or engine is stopped, also referred to as the "vibrator type" of cut out.

When the stray men have worked the herd, it is drove off a ways and turned loose. The calves in the cut-out groups are then branded and turned loose with their mothers; the strays are thrown into the stray herd or day herd.