cast

verb

1. (literary, physical)To move, or be moved, away.

   “Why then a Ladder quaintly made of Cords / To cast vp, with a paire of anchoring hookes, / Would serue to scale another Hero's towre[…].”

   “The more, an' please your honour, the pity, said the Corporal; in uttering which, he cast his spade into the wheelbarrow[…].”

2. (physical)To move, or be moved, away.

   “As Jesus walked by the see off Galile, he sawe two brethren: Simon which was called Peter, and Andrew his brother, castynge a neet into the see (for they were fisshers)[…].”

3. (physical)To move, or be moved, away.

   “So she to Guyon offred it to tast; / Who taking it out of her tender hond, / The cup to ground did violently cast, / That all in peeces it was broken fond […]”

   “it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell.”

   “Near Puerto Limon, Costa Rica, Madman, co-pilot and plane were caught in a storm, cast into the Caribbean, drowned.”

   “Her bow is not to her liking. In a temper, she casts it on the grass.”

4. (physical)To move, or be moved, away.
5. (physical)To move, or be moved, away.
6. (physical)To move, or be moved, away.

   “when the serjeant saw me, he cast his coat and put it on me, and they carried me on their shoulders to a village where the wounded were and our surgeons[…].”

   “You know the saying, "Ne'er cast a clout till May is out"? Well, personally, I'm bored of my winter clothes by March.”

7. (physical)To move, or be moved, away.
8. (obsolete, physical)To move, or be moved, away.

   “These verses[…]make me ready to cast.”

9. (archaic, physical)To move, or be moved, away.

   “Thine enemies shall cast a trench [bank] about thee.”

   “Kenett states that the military works still known by the name of Tadmarten Camp and Hook-Norton Barrow were cast up at this time ; the former, large and round, is judged to be a fortification of the Danes, and the latter, being smaller and rather a quinquangle than a square, of the Saxons.”

10. (archaic, physical)To move, or be moved, away.

    “1695 (first published), 1726 (final dated of publication) John Woodward, An Essay toward a Natural History of the Earth and Terrestrial Bodies This […] casts a sulphurous smell.”

    “This horned bird, as it casts a strong smell, so it hath a foul look, much exceeding the European Raven in bigness”

11. To direct (one's eyes, gaze etc.).

    “To whom do Lyons cast their gentle Lookes? Not to the Beast, that would vsurpe their Den.”

    “She then yawned again, threw aside her book, and cast her eyes round the room in quest of some amusement[…].”

    “But Richmond, his grandfather's darling, after one thoughtful glance cast under his lashes at that uncompromising countenance appeared to lose himself in his own reflections.”

12. To add up (a column of figures, accounts etc.); cross-cast refers to adding up a row of figures.

    “To what this ten years' tribute will amount, That we have cast, but cannot compass it By reason of the wars, that robb'd our store”

    “The Clearke of Chartam: hee can write and / reade, and cast accompt.”

    “I cannot yet cast account either with penne or Counters.”

    “I cast up the notches on my post, and found I had been on shore three hundred and sixty-five days.”

    “They cast it up and found it agreed with the printed balance-sheet.”

13. To predict, to decide, to plan.

    “he is […] a perfect astrologer, that can cast the rise and fall of others, and mark their errant motions to his own use.”

    “John Gadbury confessed that Mrs Cellier, ‘the Popish Midwife’, had asked him to cast the King's nativity, although the astrology claimed to have refused to do so.”

    “He did the washing up and stayed behind to watch the dinner cook while she hopped off with a friend to have her horoscope cast by another friend.”

14. (obsolete)To predict, to decide, to plan.

    “[...] for the quene had cast to haue ben ageyne with kyng Arthur at the ferthest by ten of the clok / and soo was that tyme her purpoos. [...] "for the queen had cast to have been again with King Arthur at the furthest by ten of the clock, and so was that time her purpose."”

    “I wrapt my selfe in Palmers weed, / And cast to seeke him forth through daunger and great dreed.”

    “The cloister[…]had, I doubt not, been cast for [an orange-house].”

15. (transitive)To predict, to decide, to plan.

    “The director cast the part carefully.”

16. (transitive)To predict, to decide, to plan.

    “The director cast John Smith as King Lear.”

17. (transitive)To predict, to decide, to plan.

    “King John cast his predecessor in a negative light to deflect criticism of his own questionable decisions.”

18. To predict, to decide, to plan.

    “to cast about for reasons”

    “She[…]cast in her mind what manner of salutation this should be.”

19. (archaic)To predict, to decide, to plan.

    “The government I cast upon my brother.”

    “Cast thy burden upon the Lord.”

20. (archaic)To predict, to decide, to plan.

    “to be cast in damages”

    “She was cast to be hanged.”

    “Were the case referred to any competent judge, […]they would inevitably be cast.”

21. To predict, to decide, to plan.

    “a casting voice”

    “24 July, 1659, Robert South, Interest Deposed, and Truth Restored How much interest casts the balance in cases dubious!”

22. To perform, bring forth (a magical spell or enchantment).

    “Sorcery is not the exclusive prerogative of the fetish-man, but is practised haphazardly by anyone who wishes to cast a spell upon another.”

    “While I could tell my little witch was growing stronger with each piece of loot, I got tired of casting fireball after fireball and looting gear with three more health.”

23. To throw (light etc.) on or upon something, or in a given direction.

    “The threat of Russian barbarism sweeping over the free world will cast its ominous shadow over us for many, many years.”

    “A sudden thought cast a gloom over his countenance.”

    “The Poet and the Painter Casting shadows on the water As the sun plays on the infantry Returning from the sea.”

24. (archaic)To give birth to (a child) prematurely; to miscarry.

    “being with childe, they may without feare of accusation, spoyle and cast [translating avorter] their children, with certaine medicaments, which they have only for that purpose.”

    “The abortion of a woman they describe by an horse kicking a wolf; because a mare will cast her foal if she tread in the track of that animal.”

25. To shape (molten metal etc.) by pouring into a mould; to make (an object) in such a way.

    “One copy of the magnificent caveman, The Thinker, of which Rodin cast several examples in bronze, is seated now in front of the Detroit Museum of Art, where it was placed last autumn.”

    “The practice of casting steel seems the most difficult of all the foundry arts, for despite every care, a percentage of the work is liable to be faulty and disappointing, but at Crewe, generally, a very good class of casting was turned out.”

26. (dated)To shape (molten metal etc.) by pouring into a mould; to make (an object) in such a way.
27. To twist or warp (of fabric, timber etc.).

    “Stuff is said to cast or warp when[…]it alters its flatness or straightness.”

28. To bring the bows of a sailing ship on to the required tack just as the anchor is weighed by use of the headsail; to bring (a ship) round.
29. To deposit (a ballot or voting paper); to formally register (one's vote).

    “Time to tell all the ballots cast by voters in the box.”

30. To change a variable type from, for example, integer to real, or integer to text.

    “To display a number, you need to cast it to a string type.”

31. Of dogs, hunters: to spread out and search for a scent.

    “He clambered on to an apron of rock that held its area out to the sun and began to cast across it. The direction of the wind changed and the scent touched him again.”

32. To set (a bone etc.) in a cast.
33. To open a circle in order to begin a spell or meeting of witches.
34. To broadcast (video) over the Internet or a local network, especially to one's television.

    “The streamer was the first to cast footage of the new game.”

noun

1. An act of throwing.
2. The number rolled on a die when it is thrown.
3. An instance of throwing out a fishing line.

   “I went out on the timber boom and made a few casts, but with little success.”

4. Something which has been thrown, dispersed etc.

   “a cast of scatter'd dust”

5. A small mass of earth "thrown off" or excreted by a worm.

   “The area near the stream was covered with little bubbly worm casts.”

6. The collective group of actors performing a play or production together. Contrasted with crew.

   “He’s in the cast of Oliver.”

   “The cast was praised for a fine performance.”

7. The casting procedure.

   “The men got into position for the cast, two at the ladle, two with long rods, all with heavy clothing.”

8. An object made in a mould.

   “The cast would need a great deal of machining to become a recognizable finished part.”

9. A supportive and immobilising device used to help mend broken bones.

   “The doctor put a cast on the boy’s broken arm.”

10. The mould used to make cast objects.

    “A plaster cast was made from his face.”

11. The number of hawks (or occasionally other birds) cast off at one time; a pair.

    “As when a cast of Faulcons make their flight / An an Herneshaw, that lyes aloft on wing […]”

    “Louis XIV was keen, employing a total hawking personnel of 175 and adding a fourth cast of gyrfalcons to hunt hares in 1682 […].”

12. A squint.

    “The image of the affected eye is clearer and in consequence the diplopy more striking the less the cast of the eye; hence the double vision will be noticed by the patient before the misdirection of the eye attracts the attention of those about him.”

    “Arriving in Brittany, the Woodville exiles found a sallow young man, with dark hair curled in the shoulder-length fashion of the time and a penchant for expensively dyed black clothes, whose steady gaze was made more disconcerting by a cast in his left eye – such that while one eye looked at you, the other searched for you.”

13. Visual appearance.

    “Her features had a delicate cast to them.”

    “Using a tungsten-balanced film outdoors results in a blue cast to the photo.”

    “He stared down at his champagne glass with narrowed eyes and a hard cast to his mouth.”

14. The form of one's thoughts, mind etc.

    “The cast of mind which prompted the plan was permanent, and in it are to be found both the strength and the weakness of Petty's character.”

    “Young Wilcox’s rejoinder, which impressed my uncle enough to make him recall and record it verbatim, was of a fantastically poetic cast which must have typified his whole conversation, and which I have since found highly characteristic of him.”

    “I have read all her articles and come to admire both her elegant turn of phrase and the noble cast of mind which inspires it; but never, I confess, did I look to see beauty and wit so perfectly united.”

15. (alt-of, obsolete)Obsolete form of caste (“hereditary social class of South Asia”).

    “The brahmin's cast is higher than any other cast.”

16. Animal and insect remains which have been regurgitated by a bird.
17. A group of crabs.
18. The measurement of the angle of a shotgun stock from a top-view center line, used to align the shotgun to the shooter's eye.

    “Cast is the measurement of the central line of the gun and the stock’s butt. If the butt is tilted slightly to the left of the central line, it’s called “cast on.” If the butt is tilted slightly to the right of the central line, it’s called “cast off.””

19. A chance or attempt at something.
20. (archaic, colloquial)Assistance given by transporting a person or lightening their labour.

    “The superiors rode în a spring-van, and the rest in the wagon, while I walked the whole distance. None of them had the civility to give me a cast forward on either vehicle, […]”

    “boatman, just give us a cast over to the other side of the water.”

adj

1. (not-comparable)Of an animal, such as a horse or sheep: Lying in a position from which it cannot rise on its own.

name

1. A surname.
2. (abbreviation, alt-of, initialism)Initialism of Coalition to Abolish Slavery and Trafficking.