cast

present singular third person casts · participle present casting · nonstandard participle past casted · nonstandard past casted · archaic present second person singular castest · archaic past second person singular castest · present singular third person casts · archaic present singular third person casteth · participle present casting

1. physicalTo move, or be moved, away.

   Many savages believe that by annually casting their skins serpents and other animals renew their youth and live for ever.

   1918, James George Frazer, Folk-Lore In The Old Testament, volume 1, page 50

   1. literaryphysicalTo throw.First known use 13th c.

      The more, an' please your honour, the pity, said the Corporal; in uttering which, he cast his spade into the wheelbarrow[…].

      1759–1767, [Laurence Sterne], The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman, volume (please specify |volume=I to IX), London: […] T. Becket and P. A. Dehondt, […], page 262

      1 more example

      Why then a Ladder quaintly made of Cords / To cast vp, with a paire of anchoring hookes, / Would serue to scale another Hero's towre[…].

      c. 1590–1591 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Two Gentlemen of Verona”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, (please specify the act number in uppercase Roman numerals, and the scene number in lowercase Roman numerals)

      Synonyms: fling, hurl, bung, chuck, chunk, cook, dash, dump

   2. physicalTo throw forward (a fishing line, net etc.) into the sea.First known use 14th c.

      As Jesus walked by the see off Galile, he sawe two brethren: Simon which was called Peter, and Andrew his brother, castynge a neet into the see (for they were fisshers)[…].

      1526, [William Tyndale, transl.], The Newe Testamẽt […] (Tyndale Bible), [Worms, Germany: Peter Schöffer], →OCLC, Matthew iiij

      Synonyms: project

   3. physicalTo throw down or aside.First known use 15th c.

      Her bow is not to her liking. In a temper, she casts it on the grass.

      2009, Hilary Mantel, Wolf Hall, Fourth Estate, published 2010, page 316

      3 more examples

      So she to Guyon offred it to tast; / Who taking it out of her tender hond, / The cup to ground did violently cast, / That all in peeces it was broken fond […]

      1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book II, Canto XII”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC

      it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell.

      1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Matthew 6:30

      Near Puerto Limon, Costa Rica, Madman, co-pilot and plane were caught in a storm, cast into the Caribbean, drowned.

      1930 December 19, “Sidar the Madman”, in Time

      Synonyms: cast down, throw down

   4. physicalTo throw off (the skin) as a process of growth; to shed the hair or fur of the coat.First known use 15th c.

      Synonyms: slough

   5. physicalbiologyTo shed leaves or fruit prematurely.
   6. physicalobsolete except in set phrasesTo remove, take off (clothes).First known use 14th c.

      You know the saying, "Ne'er cast a clout till May is out"? Well, personally, I'm bored of my winter clothes by March.

      2002 March 2, Jess Cartner-Morley, “How to Wear Clothes”, in The Guardian

      1 more example

      when the serjeant saw me, he cast his coat and put it on me, and they carried me on their shoulders to a village where the wounded were and our surgeons[…].

      1822, “Life of Donald McBane”, in Blackwood's Magazine, volume 12, page 745

      Synonyms: doff

   7. physicalnauticalTo heave the lead and line in order to ascertain the depth of water.
   8. obsoletephysicalTo vomit.

      These verses[…]make me ready to cast.

      1601, Ben Jonson, Poetaster or The Arraignment: […], London: […] [R. Bradock] for M[atthew] L[ownes] […], published 1602, →OCLC, Act I, scene i

      Synonyms: hurl, bait, barf, be sick, blow chunks, boak, boke, boot

   9. archaicphysicalTo throw up, as a mound, or rampart.

      Thine enemies shall cast a trench [bank] about thee.

      1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Luke 19:48

      1 more example

      Kenett states that the military works still known by the name of Tadmarten Camp and Hook-Norton Barrow were cast up at this time ; the former, large and round, is judged to be a fortification of the Danes, and the latter, being smaller and rather a quinquangle than a square, of the Saxons.

      1881, John Kirby Hedges, The history of Wallingford, volume 1, page 170

   10. archaicphysicalTo throw out or emit; to exhale.

       1695 (first published), 1726 (final dated of publication) John Woodward, An Essay toward a Natural History of the Earth and Terrestrial Bodies This […] casts a sulphurous smell.

       1 more example

       This horned bird, as it casts a strong smell, so it hath a foul look, much exceeding the European Raven in bigness

       1849, Philip Henry Gosse, Natural History

2. To direct (one's eyes, gaze etc.).First known use 13th c.

   To whom do Lyons cast their gentle Lookes? Not to the Beast, that would vsurpe their Den.

   c. 1591–1592 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Third Part of Henry the Sixt, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, (please specify the act number in uppercase Roman numerals, and the scene number in lowercase Roman numerals)

   2 more examples

   She then yawned again, threw aside her book, and cast her eyes round the room in quest of some amusement[…].

   1813 January 27, [Jane Austen], chapter 11, in Pride and Prejudice: […], volume I, London: […] [George Sidney] for T[homas] Egerton, […], →OCLC

   But Richmond, his grandfather's darling, after one thoughtful glance cast under his lashes at that uncompromising countenance appeared to lose himself in his own reflections.

   1959, Georgette Heyer, chapter 1, in The Unknown Ajax

3. dated outside accountingTo add up (a column of figures, accounts etc.); cross-cast refers to adding up a row of figures.First known use 14th c.

   I cannot yet cast account either with penne or Counters.

   1603, Michel de Montaigne, chapter 17, in John Florio, transl., The Essayes […], book II, London: […] Val[entine] Simmes for Edward Blount […], →OCLC

   5 more examples

   To what this ten years' tribute will amount, That we have cast, but cannot compass it By reason of the wars, that robb'd our store

   c. 1589–1590 (date written), Christopher Marlo[we], edited by Tho[mas] Heywood, The Famous Tragedy of the Rich Iew of Malta. […], London: […] I[ohn] B[eale] for Nicholas Vavasour, […], published 1633, →OCLC, Act I

   The Clearke of Chartam: hee can write and / reade, and cast accompt.

   1591 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Second Part of Henry the Sixt, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies. […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, (please specify the act number in uppercase Roman numerals, and the scene number in lowercase Roman numerals)

   I cast up the notches on my post, and found I had been on shore three hundred and sixty-five days.

   1719 May 6 (Gregorian calendar), [Daniel Defoe], The Life and Strange Surprizing Adventures of Robinson Crusoe, […], London: […] W[illiam] Taylor […], →OCLC

   They cast it up and found it agreed with the printed balance-sheet.

   1859, David Morier Evans, “The Royal British Bank—Its Suspension and General Mismanagement”, in Facts, Failures and Frauds, London: Groombridge & Sons, page 337

   Obtain an aged list of accounts receivable balances at the financial year end and use CAATs to cast and cross-cast the schedule and agree the total to the general ledger control account for accounts receivable.

   2007, George Puttick, Sandy van Esch, “Auditing Revenue Transactions and Balances”, in The Principles and Practice of Auditing, →ISBN, page 637

   Synonyms: sum, tally, add, add together, add up, count up, foot up, reckon up

4. To predict, to decide, to plan.
   1. socialastrologyTo calculate the astrological value of (a horoscope, birth etc.).First known use 14th c.

      he is[…]a perfect astrologer, that can cast the rise and fall of others, and mark their errant motions to his own use.

      1621, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], The Anatomy of Melancholy, New York: New York Review Books, published 2001, →ISBN, page 309

      2 more examples

      John Gadbury confessed that Mrs Cellier, ‘the Popish Midwife’, had asked him to cast the King's nativity, although the astrology claimed to have refused to do so.

      1971, Keith Thomas, Religion and the Decline of Magic, Folio Society, published 2012, page 332

      He did the washing up and stayed behind to watch the dinner cook while she hopped off with a friend to have her horoscope cast by another friend.

      1985, Lawrence Durrell, Quinx, Faber & Faber 2004 (Avignon Quintet), p.1197

   2. obsoletesocialTo plan, intend.First known use 14th–19th c.

      The cloister[…]had, I doubt not, been cast for [an orange-house].

      1685, William Temple, "Upon the Gardens of Epicurus

      2 more examples

      [...] for the quene had cast to haue ben ageyne with kyng Arthur at the ferthest by ten of the clok / and soo was that tyme her purpoos. [...] "for the queen had cast to have been again with King Arthur at the furthest by ten of the clock, and so was that time her purpose."

      1485, Thomas Malory, Le Morte Darthur Book XIX, Chapter i leaf 386v

      I wrapt my selfe in Palmers weed, / And cast to seeke him forth through daunger and great dreed.

      1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book II, Canto I”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC

   3. transitivesocialTo assign (a role in a play or performance).First known use 18th c.

      The director cast the part carefully.

   4. transitivesocialTo assign a role in a play or performance to (an actor).

      The director cast John Smith as King Lear.

   5. transitivesocialTo describe in an opinionated way. Mostly used with a metaphor involving light.

      King John cast his predecessor in a negative light to deflect criticism of his own questionable decisions.

   6. socialTo consider; to turn or revolve in the mind; to plan.

      to cast about for reasons

      1 more example

      She[…]cast in her mind what manner of salutation this should be.

      1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Luke 1:29

   7. archaicsocialTo impose; to bestow; to rest.

      Cast thy burden upon the Lord.

      1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Psalms 4:22

      1 more example

      The government I cast upon my brother.

      1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tempest”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene ii]

   8. archaicsocialTo defeat in a lawsuit; to decide against; to convict.

      to be cast in damages

      2 more examples

      She was cast to be hanged.

      1822, John Galt, The Provost

      Were the case referred to any competent judge, […]they would inevitably be cast.

      1667, attributed to Richard Allestree, The Causes of the Decay of Christian Piety. […], London: […] R. Norton for T. Garthwait, […], →OCLC

   9. socialTo turn (the balance or scale); to overbalance; hence, to make preponderate; to decide.

      a casting voice

      1 more example

      24 July, 1659, Robert South, Interest Deposed, and Truth Restored How much interest casts the balance in cases dubious!

      Synonyms: decide, determine, accept, adopt, appoint, choose, crave, decide

5. To perform, bring forth (a magical spell or enchantment).

   Sorcery is not the exclusive prerogative of the fetish-man, but is practised haphazardly by anyone who wishes to cast a spell upon another.

   1936, Rollo Ahmed, The Black Art, London: Long, page 178

   1 more example

   While I could tell my little witch was growing stronger with each piece of loot, I got tired of casting fireball after fireball and looting gear with three more health.

   2025 February 28, Tyler Colp, “Reinstall: Path of Exile”, in PC Gamer (US), number 392, page 93

6. To throw (light etc.) on or upon something, or in a given direction.

   A sudden thought cast a gloom over his countenance.

   1960, Lawrence Durrell, Clea

   2 more examples

   The threat of Russian barbarism sweeping over the free world will cast its ominous shadow over us for many, many years.

   1950 April 24, “A Global View”, in Time

   The Poet and the Painter Casting shadows on the water As the sun plays on the infantry Returning from the sea.

   1972, “Thick As A Brick”, Ian Anderson (lyrics), performed by Jethro Tull

   Synonyms: pour, shed, alight, belight, beshine, bright, enlighten, fire

7. archaicTo give birth to (a child) prematurely; to miscarry.First known use 15th c.

   The abortion of a woman they describe by an horse kicking a wolf; because a mare will cast her foal if she tread in the track of that animal.

   1650, Thomas Browne, chapter V, in Pseudodoxia Epidemica: […], 2nd edition, London: […] A[braham] Miller, for Edw[ard] Dod and Nath[aniel] Ekins, […], →OCLC, 1st book, page 20

   1 more example

   being with childe, they may without feare of accusation, spoyle and cast [translating avorter] their children, with certaine medicaments, which they have only for that purpose.

   , Folio Society, 2006, vol.1, p.98

8. To shape (molten metal etc.) by pouring into a mould; to make (an object) in such a way.First known use 15th c.

   One copy of the magnificent caveman, The Thinker, of which Rodin cast several examples in bronze, is seated now in front of the Detroit Museum of Art, where it was placed last autumn.

   1923 March 24, “Rodin's Death”, in Time

   1 more example

   The practice of casting steel seems the most difficult of all the foundry arts, for despite every care, a percentage of the work is liable to be faulty and disappointing, but at Crewe, generally, a very good class of casting was turned out.

   1944 November and December, A Former Pupil, “Some Memories of Crewe Works—II”, in Railway Magazine, page 343

   1. datedmediaTo stereotype or electrotype.
9. To twist or warp (of fabric, timber etc.).First known use 16th c.

   Stuff is said to cast or warp when[…]it alters its flatness or straightness.

   c. 1680, Joseph Moxon, The Art of Joinery

10. nauticalTo bring the bows of a sailing ship on to the required tack just as the anchor is weighed by use of the headsail; to bring (a ship) round.First known use 18th c.
11. To deposit (a ballot or voting paper); to formally register (one's vote).First known use 19th c.

    Time to tell all the ballots cast by voters in the box.

12. computingTo change a variable type from, for example, integer to real, or integer to text.First known use 20th c.

    To display a number, you need to cast it to a string type.

13. hobbiesOf dogs, hunters: to spread out and search for a scent.First known use 18th c.

    He clambered on to an apron of rock that held its area out to the sun and began to cast across it. The direction of the wind changed and the scent touched him again.

    1955, William Golding, The Inheritors, Faber and Faber, published 2005, page 50

14. medicineTo set (a bone etc.) in a cast.
15. WiccaTo open a circle in order to begin a spell or meeting of witches.
16. mediaTo broadcast (video) over the Internet or a local network, especially to one's television.

    The streamer was the first to cast footage of the new game.

plural casts

1. An act of throwing.
2. The number rolled on a die when it is thrown.
3. fishingAn instance of throwing out a fishing line.

   I went out on the timber boom and made a few casts, but with little success.

   1886, Peter Christen Asbjø￵rnsen, translated by H.L. Brækstad, Folk and Fairy Tales, page 152

4. Something which has been thrown, dispersed etc.

   a cast of scatter'd dust

   1697, Virgil, “The Fourth Book of the Georgics”, in John Dryden, transl., The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and Æneis. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC

5. A small mass of earth "thrown off" or excreted by a worm.

   The area near the stream was covered with little bubbly worm casts.

6. entertainmentThe collective group of actors performing a play or production together.

   He’s in the cast of Oliver.

   1 more example

   The cast was praised for a fine performance.

7. The casting procedure.

   The men got into position for the cast, two at the ladle, two with long rods, all with heavy clothing.

8. An object made in a mould.

   The cast would need a great deal of machining to become a recognizable finished part.

9. A supportive and immobilising device used to help mend broken bones.

   The doctor put a cast on the boy’s broken arm.

10. The mould used to make cast objects.

    A plaster cast was made from his face.

11. collectivefalconryThe number of hawks (or occasionally other birds) cast off at one time; a pair of hawks.

    As when a cast of Faulcons make their flight / An an Herneshaw, that lyes aloft on wing […]

    1596, Edmund Spenser, “Book VI, Canto VII”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC

    2 more examples

    Louis XIV was keen, employing a total hawking personnel of 175 and adding a fourth cast of gyrfalcons to hunt hares in 1682 […].

    2007, Tim Blanning, The Pursuit of Glory, Penguin, published 2013, page 395

    The form of perch which I have found in every way suited to ordinary requirements, especially where only a cast of hawks (two) is kept, is that figured opposite.

    1884, James Edmund Harting, Hints on the Management of Hawks, Horace Cox, page 8https://www.google.com/books/edition/Hints_on_the_Management_of_Hawks/yntEAQAAMAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=%22cast+of+hawks%22&pg=PA8&printsec=frontcover

12. A squint.

    The image of the affected eye is clearer and in consequence the diplopy more striking the less the cast of the eye; hence the double vision will be noticed by the patient before the misdirection of the eye attracts the attention of those about him.

    1847, John Churchill, A manual of the principles and practice of ophthalmic medicine and surgery, p. 389, paragraph 1968

    1 more example

    Arriving in Brittany, the Woodville exiles found a sallow young man, with dark hair curled in the shoulder-length fashion of the time and a penchant for expensively dyed black clothes, whose steady gaze was made more disconcerting by a cast in his left eye – such that while one eye looked at you, the other searched for you.

    2011, Thomas Penn, Winter King, Penguin, published 2012, page 7

13. Visual appearance.

    Her features had a delicate cast to them.

    2 more examples

    Using a tungsten-balanced film outdoors results in a blue cast to the photo.

    2004, Betsy Brill, Photojournalism: The Professional's Approach, page 240

    He stared down at his champagne glass with narrowed eyes and a hard cast to his mouth.

    2007, Lindsay Armstrong, The Australian's Housekeeper Bride, page 78

14. The form of one's thoughts, mind etc.

    The cast of mind which prompted the plan was permanent, and in it are to be found both the strength and the weakness of Petty's character.

    1894, Wilson Lloyd Bevan, Sir William Petty : A Study in English Economic Literature, page 40

    2 more examples

    Young Wilcox’s rejoinder, which impressed my uncle enough to make him recall and record it verbatim, was of a fantastically poetic cast which must have typified his whole conversation, and which I have since found highly characteristic of him.

    1928 February, H[oward] P[hillips] Lovecraft, “The Call of Cthulhu”, in Farnsworth Wright, editor, Weird Tales: A Magazine of the Bizarre and Unusual, volume XI, number 2, Indianapolis, Ind.: Popular Fiction Publishing Company, →OCLC

    I have read all her articles and come to admire both her elegant turn of phrase and the noble cast of mind which inspires it; but never, I confess, did I look to see beauty and wit so perfectly united.

    1992, Hilary Mantel, A Place of Greater Safety, Harper Perennial, published 2007, page 330

15. obsoleteObsolete form of caste (“hereditary social class of South Asia”).

    The brahmin's cast is higher than any other cast.

    1821, Report of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, volumes 12-16, page 160

16. Animal and insect remains which have been regurgitated by a bird.
17. collectiveA group of crabs.

    A cast of blue crabs weathered the underwater turbulence by clinging to coral with their claws.

    2011, J. E. Bright, Deepwater Disaster, Stone Arch Books

    2 more examples

    Some days, the whole cast of crabs would come out of their holes and ponder at the Fishers as if a storm is taking form.

    2023, Sunil Santha, Climate Change, Small-Scale Fisheries, and Blue Justice: Fishscapes and Alternative Worldviews, Taylor and Francis

    In the crevices of the rock wall that buttresses the pool, a cast of crabs go about their crab business.

    2023, Nadine J. Cohen, Everyone and Everything, Pantera Press

    1. NorfolkcollectivehistoricalTwo crabs.

       Coordinate term: hundred

       1 more example

       At Cromer and the neighbourhood the crabs are counted by a peculiar standard: thus, two crabs are counted as one. The two crabs being called a cast, six score cast of crabs is called a hundred. At Cromer, therefore, a hundred crabs is two hundred and forty.

       1876, “The Crab and Lobster Fisheries of Cromer”, in The Nautical Magazine, Cambridge University Press, page 197

18. engineeringThe measurement of the angle of a shotgun stock from a top-view center line, used to align the shotgun to the shooter's eye.

    Cast is the measurement of the central line of the gun and the stock’s butt. If the butt is tilted slightly to the left of the central line, it’s called “cast on.” If the butt is tilted slightly to the right of the central line, it’s called “cast off.”

    Savage Arms, "THE PERFECT SHOTGUN FIT," 2021

19. A chance or attempt at something.
20. archaiccolloquialAssistance given by transporting a person or lightening their labour.

    boatman, just give us a cast over to the other side of the water.

    1882, Sir James William Redhouse, The Turkish Vade-Mecum of Ottoman Colloquial Language, page 328

    1 more example

    The superiors rode în a spring-van, and the rest in the wagon, while I walked the whole distance. None of them had the civility to give me a cast forward on either vehicle, […]

    1852, Chambers' Edinburgh Journal, volumes 17-18, page 398

1. not comparableOf an animal, such as a horse or sheep: Lying in a position from which it cannot rise on its own.

plural Casts

1. A surname.

1. abbreviationinitialismInitialism of Coalition to Abolish Slavery and Trafficking.