to throw or hurl; fling: The gambler cast the dice.
to throw off or away: He cast the advertisement in the wastebasket.
to direct (the eye, a glance, etc.), especially in a cursory manner: She cast her eyes down the page.
to cause to fall upon something or in a certain direction; send forth: to cast a soft light; to cast a spell; to cast doubts.
to draw (lots), as in telling fortunes.
Angling.
to throw out (a fishing line, net, bait, etc.): The fisherman cast his line.
to fish in (a stream, an area, etc.): He has often cast this brook.
to throw down or bring to the ground: She cast herself on the sofa.
to part with; lose: The horse cast a shoe.
to shed or drop (hair, fruit, etc.): The snake cast its skin.
(of an animal) to bring forth (young), especially abortively.
to send off (a swarm), as bees do.
to throw or set aside; discard or reject; dismiss: He cast the problem from his mind.
to throw forth, as from within; emit or eject; vomit.
to throw up (earth, sod, etc.), as with a shovel.
to put or place, especially hastily or forcibly: to cast someone in prison.
to deposit or give (a ballot or vote).
to bestow; confer: to cast blessings upon someone.
to make suitable or accordant; tailor: He cast his remarks to fit the occasion.
Theater.
to select actors for (a play, motion picture, or the like).
to allot a role to (an actor).
to assign an actor to (a role).
to form (an object) by pouring metal, plaster, etc., in a fluid state into a mold and letting it harden.
to form (metal, plaster, etc.) into a particular shape by pouring it into a mold in a fluid state and letting it harden.
to tap (a blast furnace).
to compute or calculate; add, as a column of figures.
to compute or calculate (a horoscope) astrologically; forecast.
to turn or twist; warp.
Nautical. to turn the head of (a vessel), especially away from the wind in getting under way.
Fox Hunting. (of a hunter) to lead or direct (hounds) over ground believed to have been recently traveled by a fox.
Archaic. to contrive, devise, or plan.
Obsolete. to ponder.
verb (used without object),cast,cast·ing.
to throw.
to receive form in a mold.
to calculate or add.
to conjecture; forecast.
(of hounds) to search an area for scent: The setter cast, but found no scent.
to warp, as timber.
Nautical. (of a vessel) to turn, especially to get the head away from the wind; tack.
to select the actors for a play, motion picture, or the like.
Obsolete.
to consider.
to plan or scheme.
noun
act of casting or throwing.
that which is thrown.
the distance to which a thing may be cast or thrown.
Games.
a throw of dice.
the number rolled.
Angling.
act of throwing a line or net onto the water.
a spot for casting a fishing line; a fishing place.
Theater. the group of performers to whom parts are assigned; players.
Hunting. a searching of an area for a scent by hounds.
a stroke of fortune; fortune or lot.
a ride offered on one's way; lift.
the form in which something is made or written; arrangement.
Metallurgy.
act of casting or founding.
the quantity of metal cast at one time.
something formed from a material poured into a mold in a molten or liquid state; casting.
an impression or mold made from something.
Medicine/Medical. a rigid surgical dressing, usually made of bandage treated with plaster of Paris.
outward form; appearance.
sort; kind; style.
tendency; inclination.
a permanent twist or turn: to have a cast in one's eye.
a warp.
a slight tinge of some color; hue; shade: A good diamond does not have a yellowish cast.
a dash or trace; a small amount.
computation; calculation; addition.
a conjecture; forecast.
Zoology. something that is shed, ejected, or cast off or out, as molted skin, a feather, food from a bird's crop, or the coil of sand and waste passed by certain earthworms.
a person or thing that has been discarded or abandoned
printingan estimate of the amount of space that a piece of copy will occupy when printed in a particular size and style of type
verbcast off(adverb)
to remove (mooring lines) that hold (a vessel) to a dock
to knot (a row of stitches, esp the final row) in finishing off knitted or woven material
printingto 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
(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
verbcasts, castingorcast(mainly tr)
to throw or expel with violence or force
to throw off or awayshe cast her clothes to the ground
to reject or dismisshe cast the idea from his mind
to shed or dropthe snake cast its skin; the horse cast a shoe; the ship cast anchor
be castNZ(of a sheep) to have fallen and been unable to rise
to cause to appearto cast a shadow
to express (doubts, suspicions, etc) or cause (them) to be felt
to direct (a glance, attention, etc)cast your eye over this
to place, esp in a violent mannerhe was cast into prison
(also intr)anglingto throw (a line) into the water
to draw or choose (lots)
to give or deposit (a vote)
to select (actors) to play parts in (a play, film, etc)
to shape (molten metal, glass, etc) by pouring or pressing it into a mould
to make (an object) by such a process
(also intr often foll by up) to compute (figures or a total)
to predictthe old woman cast my fortune
astrologyto draw on (a horoscope) details concerning the positions of the planets in the signs of the zodiac at a particular time for interpretation in terms of human characteristics, behaviour,
to contrive (esp in the phrase cast a spell)
to formulatehe cast his work in the form of a chart
(also intr)to twist or cause to twist
(also intr)nauticalto turn the head of (a sailing vessel) or (of a sailing vessel) to be turned away from the wind in getting under way
huntingto direct (a pack of hounds) over (ground) where their quarry may recently have passed
(intr)(of birds of prey) to eject from the crop and bill a pellet consisting of the indigestible parts of birds or animals previously eaten
falconryto hold the body of a hawk between the hands so as to perform some operation upon it
printingto stereotype or electrotype
cast in one's lot withorthrow in one's lot withto share in the activities or fortunes of (someone else)
noun
the act of casting or throwing
Also called: castingsomething that is shed, dropped, or egested, such as the coil of earth left by an earthworm
the wide sweep made by a sheepdog to get behind a flock of sheep or by a hunting dog in search of a scent
the actors in a play collectively
(as modifier)a cast list
an object made of metal, glass, etc, that has been shaped in a molten state by being poured or pressed into a mould
the mould used to shape such an object
form or appearance
sort, kind, or style
a fixed twist or defect, esp in the eye
a distortion of shape
surgerya rigid encircling casing, often made of plaster of Paris, for immobilizing broken bones while they heal
pathola mass of fatty, waxy, cellular, or other material formed in a diseased body cavity, passage, etc
the act of casting a pack of hounds
falconrya pair of falcons working in combination to pursue the same quarry
archerythe speed imparted to an arrow by a particular bow
a slight tinge or trace, as of colour
a computation or calculation
a forecast or conjecture
fortune or a stroke of fate
palaeontola replica of an organic object made of nonorganic material, esp a lump of sediment that indicates the internal or external surface of a shell or skeleton
palaeontola sedimentary structure representing the infilling of a mark or depression in a soft layer of sediment (or bed)
1741, from verbal phrase (c.1400), from cast (v.) + off (adv.). From 1746 as a past participle adjective.
cast
n.
mid-13c., "a throw, an act of throwing," from cast (v.). In early use especially of dice, hence figurative uses relating to fortune or fate. Meaning "that which is cast" is from c.1550s. Meaning "dash or shade of color" is from c.1600. The sense of "a throw" carried an idea of "the form the thing takes after it has been thrown," which led to widespread and varied meanings, such as "group of actors in a play" (1630s). OED finds 42 distinct noun meaning and 83 verbal ones, with many sub-definitions. Many of the figurative senses converged in a general meaning "sort, kind, style" (mid-17c.). A cast in the eye (early 14c.) preserves the older verbal sense of "warp, turn."
cast
v.
c.1200, from a Scandinavian source akin to Old Norse kasta "to throw" (cf. Swedish kasta, Danish kaste, North Frisian kastin), of uncertain origin. Meaning "to form in a mold" is late 15c. In the sense of "warp, turn" it replaced Old English weorpan (see warp (v.)), and itself largely has been superseded now by throw, though cast still is used of fishing lines and glances.
An object formed by the solidification of molten liquid poured into an impression or mold, as in a dental cast of the maxillary or mandibular arch.
A rigid dressing, usually made of gauze and plaster of Paris, used to immobilize an injured, fractured, or dislocated body part, as in a fracture or dislocation.plaster cast
A mass of fibrous material, coagulated protein, or exudate that has taken the form of the cavity in which it has been molded, such as the bronchial, renal, intestinal, or vaginal cavity, and that is found histologically as well as in urine or sputum samples.
Whatever You Do Someone Will Die. A Short Story About Impossible Choices in Iraq