cast

Adjective

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

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. - 1886, Peter Christen Asbjø￵rnsen, translated by H.L. Brækstad, Folk and Fairy Tales, page 152:
4. Something which has been thrown, dispersed etc.
   • a cast of scatter'd dust - 1697, Virgil, “The Fourth Book of the Georgics”, in John Dryden, transl., The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and Æneis. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC:
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 […] - 1596, Edmund Spenser, “Book VI, Canto VII”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:
    • Louis XIV was keen, employing a total hawking personnel of 175 and adding a fourth cast of gyrfalcons to hunt hares in 1682 […]. - 2007, Tim Blanning, The Pursuit of Glory, Penguin, published 2013, page 395:
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...
    • 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...

Verb

1. 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[…]. - c. 1590–1591 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Two Gentlemen of Verona”,...
   • The more, an' please your honour, the pity, said the Corporal; in uttering which, he cast his spade into the wheelbarrow[…]. - 1759–1767, [Laurence Sterne], The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman, volume...

   Synonyms: fling hurl bung cast chuck chunk cook dash dump feck jerk heave hield hoy huck hurtle launch lob peck peg pick pitch precipitate project

   1. (now somewhat literary) To throw.

   2. To throw forward (a fishing line, net etc.) into the sea.

      • 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)[…]. - 1526, [William Tyndale, transl.], The Newe...

      Synonyms: project

   3. To throw down or aside.

      • 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 […] - 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book II, Canto XII”, in The Faerie...
      • it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell. - 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Matthew...
      • Near Puerto Limon, Costa Rica, Madman, co-pilot and plane were caught in a storm, cast into the Caribbean, drowned. - 1930 December 19, “Sidar the Madman”, in Time:

      Synonyms: cast down throw down

   4. (of an animal) To throw off (the skin) as a process of growth; to shed the hair or fur of the coat.

      Synonyms: slough

   5. (botany) To shed leaves or fruit prematurely.

   6. (obsolete except in set phrases) To remove, take off (clothes).

      • 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[…]. - 1822, “Life of Donald McBane”, in Blackwood's Magazine,...
      • You know the saying, "Ne'er cast a clout till May is out"? Well, personally, I'm bored of my winter clothes by March. - 2002 March 2, Jess Cartner-Morley, “How to Wear Clothes”, in The Guardian:

      Synonyms: doff

   7. (nautical) To heave the lead and line in order to ascertain the depth of water.

   8. (obsolete) To vomit.

      • These verses[…]make me ready to cast. - 1601, Ben Jonson, Poetaster or The Arraignment: […], London: […] [R. Bradock] for M[atthew] L[ownes] […], published 1602, →OCLC, Act I, scene i:

      Synonyms: hurl bait barf be sick blow chunks boak boke boot bork bow down before the porcelain god cast cast up one's accounts chuck chuck up chunder disgorge drive the porcelain bus erupt gag get sick heave honk launch one's lunch lose one's lunch

   9. (archaic) To throw up, as a mound, or rampart.

      • Thine enemies shall cast a trench [bank] about thee. - 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Luke 19:48:
      • 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...

   10. (archaic) To throw out or emit; to exhale.

       • 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 - 1849, Philip Henry Gosse, Natural History:
2. To direct (one's eyes, gaze etc.).
   • To whom do Lyons cast their gentle Lookes? Not to the Beast, that would vsurpe their Den. - c. 1591–1592 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Third Part of Henry the Sixt, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares...
   • She then yawned again, threw aside her book, and cast her eyes round the room in quest of some amusement[…]. - 1813 January 27, [Jane Austen], chapter 11, in Pride and Prejudice: […], volume I, London: […] [George...
   • 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. - 1959, Georgette Heyer, chapter 1, in The...
3. 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 - c. 1589–1590 (date written), Christopher Marlo[we], edited by Tho[mas] Heywood, The...
   • The Clearke of Chartam: hee can write and / reade, and cast accompt. - 1591 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Second Part of Henry the Sixt, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies....
   • I cannot yet cast account either with penne or Counters. - 1603, Michel de Montaigne, chapter 17, in John Florio, transl., The Essayes […], book II, London: […] Val[entine] Simmes for Edward Blount […], →OCLC:

   Synonyms: sum tally add add together add up cast count up foot up reckon up sum up summate tally up tot tot up total tote tote up

4. 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. - , vol.1, New York Review of Books, 2001, p.309
   • 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. - 1971, Keith Thomas, Religion and the Decline of Magic,...
   • 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. - 1985, Lawrence Durrell, Quinx, Faber & Faber 2004 (Avignon Quintet),...

   1. (astrology) To calculate the astrological value of (a horoscope, birth etc.).

   2. (obsolete) To plan, intend.

      • [...] 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...
      • I wrapt my selfe in Palmers weed, / And cast to seeke him forth through daunger and great dreed. - 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book II, Canto I”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie,...
      • The cloister[…]had, I doubt not, been cast for [an orange-house]. - 1685, William Temple, "Upon the Gardens of Epicurus:

   3. (transitive) To assign (a role in a play or performance).

      • The director cast the part carefully.

   4. (transitive) To assign a role in a play or performance to (an actor).

      • The director cast John Smith as King Lear.

   5. (transitive) To describe in an opinionated way. Mostly used with a metaphor involving light.

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

   6. To consider; to turn or revolve in the mind; to plan.

      • to cast about for reasons
      • She[…]cast in her mind what manner of salutation this should be. - 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Luke 1:29:

   7. (archaic) To impose; to bestow; to rest.

      • The government I cast upon my brother. - 1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tempest”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and...
      • Cast thy burden upon the Lord. - 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Psalms 4:22:

   8. (archaic) To defeat in a lawsuit; to decide against; to convict.

      • to be cast in damages
      • She was cast to be hanged. - 1822, John Galt, The Provost:
      • Were the case referred to any competent judge, […]they would inevitably be cast. - 1667, attributed to Richard Allestree, The Causes of the Decay of Christian Piety. […], London: […] R. Norton for T. Garthwait, […],...

   9. To turn (the balance or scale); to overbalance; hence, to make preponderate; to decide.

      • a casting voice
      • 24 July, 1659, Robert South, Interest Deposed, and Truth Restored How much interest casts the balance in cases dubious!

      Synonyms: decide determine accept adopt appoint cast choose crave designate desire elect embrace espouse excerpt extract favor opt pick poll predestine preponderate prefer separate select

5. 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. - 1936, Rollo Ahmed, The Black Art, London: Long, page 178:
   • 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. - 2025 February 5, Tyler Colp, “Reinstall: Path of...
6. 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. - 1950 April 24, “A Global View”, in Time:
   • A sudden thought cast a gloom over his countenance. - 1960, Lawrence Durrell, Clea:
   • The Poet and the Painter Casting shadows on the water As the sun plays on the infantry Returning from the sea. - 1972, “Thick As A Brick”, Ian Anderson (lyrics), performed by Jethro Tull:

   Synonyms: pour shed alight belight beshine bright enlighten fire illume illuminate illumine illustrate irradiate light lighten light up luster lustrate shed light on

7. 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. - , Folio Society, 2006, vol.1, p.98
   • 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. - 1650, Thomas Browne, chapter V, in Pseudodoxia Epidemica: […], 2nd edition,...
8. 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. - 1923 March 24, “Rodin's Death”,...
   • 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...

   1. (printing, dated) To stereotype or electrotype.

9. To twist or warp (of fabric, timber etc.).
   • Stuff is said to cast or warp when[…]it alters its flatness or straightness. - c. 1680, Joseph Moxon, The Art of Joinery:
10. 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.
11. 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.
12. 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.

Wikipedia

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