GR translation: cut him loose

[Mike Jing]

V503.20-29, P511.36-512.4
“I warned him, but he laughed. ‘Another leap, Närrisch. I have to keep
leaping, don’t I?’”

“Well what do you want to do now, cut him loose?”

There is some excitement amidships. The Russians have thrown back a tarp to
reveal the chimps, who are covered with vomit, and have also broken into
the vodka. Haftung blinks and shudders. Wolfgang is on his back, sucking at
a gurgling bottle he is clutching with his feet. Some of the chimps are
docile, others are looking for a fight.

“Somehow . . .” Slothrop does wish the man would quit talking this way, “I
owe him—that much.”


What does "cut him loose" mean here?

OED lists two possible meanings:

P.2.a.i.i.
To cut (someone or something) away from an anchor or restraint (literal and
figurative); to free, release.

P.2.a.i.ii.
Originally U.S. figurative. To cast (someone or something) adrift; spec. to
put an end to a relationship with (a person); to give (something) up.