cast-off
adjective
(prenominal) thrown away; abandoned
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cast-off
Britishadjective
noun
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a person or thing that has been discarded or abandoned
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printing an estimate of the amount of space that a piece of copy will occupy when printed in a particular size and style of type
verb
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to remove (mooring lines) that hold (a vessel) to a dock
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to knot (a row of stitches, esp the final row) in finishing off knitted or woven material
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printing to estimate the amount of space that will be taken up by (a book, piece of copy, etc) when it is printed in a particular size and style of type
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(intr) (in Scottish country dancing) to perform a progressive movement during which each partner of a couple dances separately behind one line of the set and then reunites with the other in their original position in the set or in a new position
cast off
Idioms
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Discard, reject, as in He cast off his clothes and jumped in the pool . This term was already used figuratively in Miles Coverdale's translation of the Bible (1535): “Thy mother ... that hath cast off her housebonds and her children” (Ezekiel 16:45).
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Let go, set loose, as in He cast off the line and the boat drifted from the dock . [Second half of 1600s]
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In knitting, to finish the last row of stitches, that is, take the stitches off the needle and form a selvage. For example, Your sweater is finished; I just have to cast off . [Late 1800s] Also see cast on , def. 1.
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Media analysts say the key is whether such a separation is truly a spinoff of a company that is able to stand on its own, or more of a cast-off of unwanted assets.
From MarketWatch ● Jan. 5, 2026
Even Musk’s cast-off remarks regarding countries he’s not so entwined with are likely to promote harm.
From Slate ● Aug. 14, 2024
Shimmering in purple like a cherry blossom, the cast-off material once comprised the star’s outer layer.
From Seattle Times ● Mar. 14, 2023
He made his fortune through buying up and turning around cast-off parts of other businesses.
From BBC ● Nov. 23, 2022
I also managed to find shoes and a coat for Helena and a cast-off rug for our feet.
From "The Light in Hidden Places" by Sharon Cameron
In the past, many media spinoffs were viewed largely as efforts to cast off declining or unwanted assets.
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 30, 2026
Japan has cast off lost decades of deflation to join the rest of the developed world in modest inflation, currently running near 3%.
From Barron's ● Jan. 8, 2026
“We would just pretend to snap for practice, and then for the games they would cut the cast off my wrist and put me in a splint or a brace.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 4, 2025
"Let us cast off the armour of our ethnic and political divisions, open our religious confessions to mutual encounter and reawaken in our hearts the dream of a united Lebanon," he said.
From BBC ● Dec. 2, 2025
Then she quickly bailed out the boat, loaded it, and cast off, paddling away from the rising sun.
From "A Girl Named Disaster" by Nancy Farmer
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
