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
During the pandemic, Sports Arena workers frequently found cast-off, half-starved horses roaming the San Gabriel riverbed and its trails.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 17, 2025
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
Animals are somewhere; he can smell them, but the little house looks empty, if not cast-off completely.
From "Jazz" by Toni Morrison
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
"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
But that only works if there’s something of substance to cast off in the first place.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 17, 2025
Falstaff will never be decorous: and he is cast off.
From "Words Like Loaded Pistols" by Sam Leith
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.
