cast
Americanverb (used with object)
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to throw or hurl; fling.
The gambler cast the dice.
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to throw off or away.
He cast the advertisement in the wastebasket.
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to direct (the eye, a glance, etc.), especially in a cursory manner.
She cast her eyes down the page.
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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.
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to draw (lots), as in telling fortunes.
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Angling.
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to throw out (a fishing line, net, bait, etc.).
The fisherman cast his line.
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to fish in (a stream, an area, etc.).
He has often cast this brook.
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to throw down or bring to the ground.
She cast herself on the sofa.
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to part with; lose.
The horse cast a shoe.
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to shed or drop (skin, antlers, fruit, etc.).
The snake cast its skin.
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(of an animal) to bring forth (young), especially abortively.
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to send off (a swarm), as bees do.
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to throw or set aside; discard or reject; dismiss.
He cast the problem from his mind.
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to throw forth, as from within; emit or eject; vomit.
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to throw up (earth, sod, etc.), as with a shovel.
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to put or place, especially hastily or forcibly.
to cast someone in prison.
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to deposit or give (a ballot or vote).
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to cast blessings upon someone.
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to make suitable or accordant; tailor.
He cast his remarks to fit the occasion.
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Theater.
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to select actors for (a play, motion picture, or the like).
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to allot a role to (an actor).
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to assign an actor to (a role).
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to form (an object) by pouring metal, plaster, etc., in a fluid state into a mold and letting it harden.
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to form (metal, plaster, etc.) into a particular shape by pouring it into a mold in a fluid state and letting it harden.
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to tap (a blast furnace).
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to compute or calculate; add, as a column of figures.
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to compute or calculate (a horoscope) astrologically; forecast.
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to turn or twist; warp.
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Nautical. to turn the head of (a vessel), especially away from the wind in getting under way.
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Fox Hunting. (of a hunter) to lead or direct (hounds) over ground believed to have been recently traveled by a fox.
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Archaic. to contrive, devise, or plan.
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Obsolete. to ponder.
verb (used without object)
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to throw.
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to receive form in a mold.
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to calculate or add.
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to conjecture; forecast.
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(of hounds) to search an area for scent.
The setter cast, but found no scent.
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to warp, as timber.
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Nautical. (of a vessel) to turn, especially to get the head away from the wind; tack.
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to select the actors for a play, motion picture, or the like.
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Obsolete.
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to consider.
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to plan or scheme.
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noun
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act of casting or throwing.
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that which is thrown.
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the distance to which a thing may be cast or thrown.
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Games.
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a throw of dice.
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the number rolled.
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Angling.
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act of throwing a line or net onto the water.
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a spot for casting a fishing line; a fishing place.
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Theater. the group of performers to whom parts are assigned; players.
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Hunting. a searching of an area for a scent by hounds.
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a stroke of fortune; fortune or lot.
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a ride offered on one's way; lift.
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the form in which something is made or written; arrangement.
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Metallurgy.
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act of casting or founding.
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the quantity of metal cast at one time.
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something formed from a material poured into a mold in a molten or liquid state; casting.
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an impression or mold made from something.
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Medicine/Medical. a rigid surgical dressing, usually made of bandage treated with plaster of Paris.
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outward form; shape; appearance.
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(of people) distinctive sort, type, or character; mold; stamp.
The bars were teeming with twenty-somethings of the trust-fund hipster cast. He modeled himself after the cast of his piano teacher, who was an exemplar of self-discipline.
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a permanent twist or turn.
to have a cast in one's eye.
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a warp.
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a slight tinge of some color; hue; shade.
A good diamond does not have a yellowish cast.
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a dash or trace; a small amount.
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Mathematics. computation; calculation; addition.
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a prediction; forecast.
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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.
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Ornithology. pellet.
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Falconry. a pair of hawks put in flight together.
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Pathology. effused plastic matter produced in the hollow parts of various diseased organs.
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low-grade, irregular wool.
adjective
verb phrase
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cast up
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to add up; compute.
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to vomit; eject.
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Chiefly Scot. to turn up; appear.
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cast about
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to look, as to find something; search; seek.
We cast about for something to do during the approaching summer vacation.
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to scheme; plan.
He cast about how he could avoid work.
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cast back to refer to something past; revert to.
The composer casts back to his earlier work.
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cast off. castoff.
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cast away
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Also cast aside. to reject; discard.
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to shipwreck.
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to throw away; squander.
He will cast away this money just as he has done in the past.
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cast on to set (yarn) on a needle in order to form the initial stitches in knitting.
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cast down to lower; humble.
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cast out to force out; expel; eject.
idioms
verb
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to throw or expel with violence or force
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to throw off or away
she cast her clothes to the ground
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to reject or dismiss
he cast the idea from his mind
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to shed or drop
the snake cast its skin
the horse cast a shoe
the ship cast anchor
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(of a sheep) to have fallen and been unable to rise
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to cause to appear
to cast a shadow
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to express (doubts, suspicions, etc) or cause (them) to be felt
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to direct (a glance, attention, etc)
cast your eye over this
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to place, esp in a violent manner
he was cast into prison
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(also intr) angling to throw (a line) into the water
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to draw or choose (lots)
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to give or deposit (a vote)
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to select (actors) to play parts in (a play, film, etc)
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to shape (molten metal, glass, etc) by pouring or pressing it into a mould
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to make (an object) by such a process
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to compute (figures or a total)
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to predict
the old woman cast my fortune
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astrology to 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,
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to contrive (esp in the phrase cast a spell )
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to formulate
he cast his work in the form of a chart
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(also intr) to twist or cause to twist
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(also intr) nautical to turn the head of (a sailing vessel) or (of a sailing vessel) to be turned away from the wind in getting under way
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hunting to direct (a pack of hounds) over (ground) where their quarry may recently have passed
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(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
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falconry to hold the body of a hawk between the hands so as to perform some operation upon it
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printing to stereotype or electrotype
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to share in the activities or fortunes of (someone else)
noun
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the act of casting or throwing
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Also called: casting. something that is shed, dropped, or egested, such as the coil of earth left by an earthworm
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another name for pellet
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an object that is thrown
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the distance an object is or may be thrown
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a throw at dice
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the resulting number shown
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angling
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a trace with a fly or flies attached
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the act or an instance of casting
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the wide sweep made by a sheepdog to get behind a flock of sheep or by a hunting dog in search of a scent
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the actors in a play collectively
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( as modifier )
a cast list
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an object made of metal, glass, etc, that has been shaped in a molten state by being poured or pressed into a mould
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the mould used to shape such an object
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form or appearance
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sort, kind, or style
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a fixed twist or defect, esp in the eye
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a distortion of shape
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surgery a rigid encircling casing, often made of plaster of Paris, for immobilizing broken bones while they heal
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pathol a mass of fatty, waxy, cellular, or other material formed in a diseased body cavity, passage, etc
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the act of casting a pack of hounds
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falconry a pair of falcons working in combination to pursue the same quarry
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archery the speed imparted to an arrow by a particular bow
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a slight tinge or trace, as of colour
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a computation or calculation
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a forecast or conjecture
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fortune or a stroke of fate
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palaeontol a 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
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palaeontol a sedimentary structure representing the infilling of a mark or depression in a soft layer of sediment (or bed)
Related Words
Other Word Forms
- castability noun
- castable adjective
- subcast noun
- uncast adjective
- well-cast adjective
Etymology
Origin of cast
First recorded in 1175–1225; Middle English casten, from Old Norse kasta “to throw”
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.
Bengali filmmaker Kaushik Ganguly cast Bhaduri in his films.
From BBC • Apr. 4, 2026
The cast of “An Awfully Big Adventure” is an array of eccentric players.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 3, 2026
Social media is rife with fabricated satellite imagery, heatmaps and other pseudo forensic visuals used to cast doubt on genuine evidence from the war, researchers say.
From Barron's • Apr. 2, 2026
"There are more exciting cast announcements to come, and Peaky is on the road again."
From BBC • Apr. 2, 2026
Here Mama read aloud from Dickens on winter evenings while the coal whistled in the brick hearth and cast a red glow over the tile proclaiming, “Jesus is Victor.”
From "The Hiding Place" by Corrie ten Boom
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.
