cast loose


Also, cast adrift. Let go, freed, as in After Rob was suspended from boarding school, he was cast loose with nowhere to go, or Selling her home meant she was cast adrift with no financial ties or responsibilities. Originally a nautical term for releasing a vessel, this idiom was being used figuratively by the late 1500s.

Words Nearby cast loose

The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.

How to use cast loose in a sentence

  • By earliest dawn of the next day the raft was cast loose from moorings, and rowed out into the river clear of the islet.

    The Vee-Boers | Mayne Reid
  • Then the ropes were cast loose, the gangway was thrown down, the ship was pushed out into the bay, and the anchor let go.

    The Norsemen in the West | R.M. Ballantyne
  • The hours flew until the tug signaled that she must cast loose and back away from the reef.

    The Pillar of Light | Louis Tracy
  • It was worrying Burt too, but he jumped aboard his raft and cast loose without giving vent to his fears.

    The Blind Lion of the Congo | Elliott Whitney
  • cast loose the signal-gun lashed down there on the main deck.

    Cursed | George Allan England