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definitions

castoff

[kast-awf, -of, kahst-]
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SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR castoff ON THESAURUS.COM

adjective

thrown away; rejected; discarded: castoff clothing.

noun

a person or thing that has been cast off.
Printing. the estimate by a compositor of how many pages copy will occupy when set in type.

Origin of castoff

First recorded in 1735–45; adj., noun use of verb phrase cast off
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for castoff

antique, age-old, venerable, crumbling, old-fashioned, primitive, former, traditional, old-time, outmoded, original, damaged, desolate, run-down, shabby, dilapidated, neglected, ruined, dingy, seedy

Examples from the Web for castoff

Historical Examples of castoff

  • So he picked up some castoff feathers of the Peacocks and stuck them among his own black plumes.

  • Are you not a bit sorry for the neat little halo that now hangs like a piece of castoff clothing on the bedpost of an adulteress?

    The Goose Man

    Jacob Wassermann

  • Doubtless she would hail his wish—half a reform in itself—to castoff the outward signs of an accepted degradation.

  • A player comes on under the shadow, made up in the castoff mail of a court buck, a wellset man with a bass voice.

    Ulysses

    James Joyce

  • The child pointed to what appeared to be some ragged, castoff clothes left in the hole by the late occupant.