I. ˈkast, -aa(ə)-, -ai-, -ȧ- verb
( cast ; cast ; casting ; casts )
Etymology: Middle English casten, from Old Norse kasta; akin to Old Norse kös heap and perhaps to Latin gerere to bear, wage, cherish
transitive verb
1.
a.
(1) : to cause to move by throwing : send forth by throwing : impel with force : throw
cast dice
cast myself on my grass bed — W.H.Hudson †1922
(2) : to throw out (a bait) by means of a fishing rod
cast a plug into the surf
: throw out (a net) : fish (an area) by casting
b.
(1) : direct
cast a glance
cast her mind back in an effort to remember
(2) : to put forth
the fire casts a warm glow
: project or send forth especially in a particular direction
his words cast new light on the problem
(3) : to place or propel as if by throwing
cast another burden on the reader
cast doubt upon their reliability
the player cast a spell on the audience
(4) obsolete : to cause to enter or begin a state or activity
(5) : to deposit (a ballot) formally or officially : give (a vote)
c.
(1) : to throw off or away (as something lost, outworn, or no longer wanted) : get rid of : discard
the horse cast a shoe
— often used with off, away, aside
cast off all restraint
(2) now dialect Britain : vomit
(3) : to reject or dismiss as unfit or disqualified : cashier , cull
the state cannot with safety cast him — Shakespeare
— now used chiefly of farm animals
ewes were cast for age at five years
(4) Britain : to bring forth, bear, or drop prematurely : slink vt 1
an infected cow may cast its calf at the sixth month
(5) : shed , molt
cast feathers
cast leaves
(6) of honeybees : to throw off (a swarm)
(7) : to bring forth : bear , yield
d.
(1) : to throw to the ground : overthrow especially in wrestling : throw (an animal) down
the cow was cast and her legs tied
(2) : to defeat in a lawsuit
(3) archaic : convict , condemn
she was cast to be hanged — Francis Jeffrey
e. now dialect Britain : to dig or shovel up (as earth or sod)
they were casting the peats
also : to form by digging or throwing up earth
cast a ditch
cast a mound
2.
a.
(1) : to perform arithmetical operations on : compute or reckon (as accounts) : add
cast the page of entries in an account book
— often used with up
cast up a row of figures
(2) : to calculate by means of astrology
cast a person's horoscope
(3) archaic : to examine (urine) to diagnose disease
(4) printing : to cast off
b.
(1) : contrive , devise , plan
cast a cheap way how they may be all destroyed — Francis Beaumont & John Fletcher
(2) archaic : decide , intend
we cast to dine there
(3) now dialect Britain : to meditate on : consider , ponder
cast no more doubts — Christopher Marlowe
— now often used with over
3.
a. : to dispose or arrange into parts or into a suitable order — devise
I shall cast what I have to say under two principal heads — Tatler
b. : to arrange or dispose (as elements or details in a painting)
cast the draperies in a graceful arrangement
c. : to assign (as a part in a play) to an actor
cast the leading part
: assign the parts of (a dramatic production) to actors
cast the play
: assign to a role or part
cast him as Othello
the president and Congress have been cast for opposite parts — W.E.Binkley
4.
a.
(1) : to give a particular shape to (a substance) by pouring in liquid or plastic form into a mold and letting or causing to harden without pressure
cast steel
: form by this process
cast machine parts
cast concrete pillars
toys cast from plastic
(2) : to make a stereotype, electrotype, or other printing plate from (letterpress matter) : plate : make (as type, slugs, rules, stereotypes) by forcing hot metal into a matrix or mold
b. : to give form to : arrange
the book is cast in the form of an autobiography
: establish or create in a particular form
those who were casting the new Protestant state of England and Scotland — Padraic Colum
: express , formulate
casting of morality in terms of economic gain — Abraham Edel
5. : turn
cast the scale slightly
: decide
cast the balance between the outward advantages and disadvantages — J.H.Newman
6. : to make into a knot or stitch
cast a square knot
cast a stitch
7. : twist , warp
a beam cast by age
8. : to cause (a dog or a pack) to make a cast : put (a dog) on the scent
intransitive verb
1.
a. : to throw or project something ; specifically : to throw out a lure or bait with a fishing rod
b. now dialect Britain : vomit
c. dialect England : to bear fruit : yield
the wheat casts well
2.
a. : to perform addition
cast and balance at a desk — Alfred Tennyson
b. obsolete : estimate , conjecture
cast beyond ourselves in our opinions — Shakespeare
3. : warp
lumber casts
4. : to make a cast — used of hunting dogs or trackers
5. of a boat : to turn the bow from the wind so as to bring it on the desired side (as when getting under way from a mooring) : veer
6.
a. : to undergo the process of shaping in a mold : take form in a mold
overheated metal may cast badly
b. printing : to produce a cast
the safety device will not permit a loose line of matrices to cast
Synonyms: see discard , throw
•
- cast anchor
- cast in one's teeth
- cast loose
- cast lots
- cast one's lot with
- cast out nines
- cast the lead
- cast the withers
II. noun
( -s )
Etymology: Middle English, from casten to cast
1. : an act or the action or process of casting
2.
a. : an act of casting a throw (as of a missile)
b. : something that happens as a result of chance : a stroke of fortune : chance , fate , venture
his future depended on this cast
c. : a throw of dice
a seven on the first cast
also : the number of spots showing or counted in a single throw of dice
a cast of seven
d.
(1) : a throw of a line (as a fishing line or lariat) or net (as a fishing net or butterfly net)
(2) : a place for casting : a fishing place
a good cast near the bridge
3.
a. : the form in which a thing is constructed
forcing argument to the cast of rhyme — Karl Shapiro
b.
(1) : the set of actors assigned parts in a dramatic production
(2) : a descriptive list of these parts
(3) : the set of characters in a narrative
c. : the arrangement or disposition of draperies in a painting
4. : the distance to which a thing can be thrown ; specifically : the distance a bow can shoot
5.
a. : a turning of the eye in a particular direction : glance , look ; also : expression
this freakish, elfish cast came into the child's eye — Nathaniel Hawthorne
b. : a twist or turn to one side ; specifically : a slight strabismus
6. : something that is thrown or the quantity thrown: as
a. : the number (as a couple) of hawks released by a falconer at one time
b. : the number (as of herrings, crabs, or oysters) that can be thrown into a vessel at one time by hand : warp
c. Britain : a length of silkworm gut or nylon used to connect a fish lure or fly to the line : leader
d. : the quantity of metal cast at a single operation
7.
a. : something that is formed by casting in a mold or form: as
(1) : a reproduction or copy (as of a work of art) in metal or plaster : casting
(2) : a fossil reproduction of the external details of a natural object produced by infiltration of a mold of the object by water-borne minerals (as lime salts) — compare petrifaction
b. : an impression taken from an object by covering its surface with a liquid or plastic substance that when hardened retains form and detail of the original and can serve as a mold for reproduction
c. : a rigid dressing usually made from gauze or crinoline impregnated with plaster of paris or other material used for immobilizing a diseased, deformed, or broken part
8. : a forecast or conjecture concerning future events or conditions
to make a long cast ahead
9. : the quality of elastic resilience in a bow that determines its ability to propel an arrow
improving the cast of a bow
10. archaic : a specimen intended to show the quality of the whole : example
showing us a cast of his logic
— used especially in the phrase a cast of one's office
11.
a. : an overspread of a color or modification of the appearance of a substance by a trace of some added hue : shade
the rock itself had a deep purplish cast — Willa Cather
gray with a greenish cast
b. : a trace of a particular quality : tinge , suggestion
had a small cast of the coxcomb — Laurence Sterne
a cast of bitterness in his words — Walter O'Meara
12.
a. : a ride on one's way in a vehicle : lift
a wagoner gave him a cast as far as the town
b. Scotland : help , assistance
if we had the cast of a cart to bring it — Sir Walter Scott
13.
a. : a physical form or character : shape , appearance
the delicate cast of his features
b. : characteristic quality
Russia, the culture of which has as definite a cast as that of France — Edward Sapir
: nature , character , bent
his mental habits … were always of a Quakerish cast — H.S.Canby
: type , kind
Madison, Washington, and others of that cast — J.C.Miller
c. : bent , complexion
cast of mind
a mind of scientific cast
14. : something that is thrown out or off, shed, or ejected: as
a. of honeybees : an afterswarm, especially the first
b. : the excrement of an earthworm
c. : pellet 1e
d. : a mass of plastic matter formed by effusion in cavities of certain usually diseased organs and subsequently discharged from the body — see renal cast
e. : the skin of an insect
15. : the right to shoot first in an archery match given to the winner of the last shot — used with the
16. : the ranging over the field in search of a trail by a dog, hunting pack, or tracker
the setter made a wide cast
III. adjective
Etymology: Middle English, from Latin castus — more at caste
obsolete : chaste
IV.
obsolete
variant of caste
V. ˈkast, -aa(ə)-, -ai, -ȧ- adjective
Etymology: from past participle of cast (I)
of an animal : down or on its back and unable to get up