Meanings
present singular third person casts off · participle present casting off · participle past casted off · past casted off
- transitiveTo discard or reject something.
However, with the dainty volume my quondam friend sprang into fame. At the same time he cast off the chrysalis of a commonplace existence.
1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter I, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC1 more example
Mr. Christie, who as a presidential candidate has frequently suppressed his most pugilistic instincts, cast off any restraint and did what he does best: slice and slash.
2016 February 7, Michael Barbaro, “Once Impervious, Marco Rubio Is Diminished by a Caustic Chris Christie”, in The New York Times - historicalmediaTo estimate the amount of space required by the type used for the given copy.
To conserve type, copy was "cast off"; that is, type needed for the initial pages was estimated so that the pages need not be composed in the same sequence as the copy.
2012, Christa Jansohn, Problems of Editing, page 102
Synonyms & antonyms
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Translations
Danish lukke af
- lukke affinish the last row of knitted stitches and remove them from the needle
Dutch trossen los, afkanten
- trossen losto let go
- afkantenfinish the last row of knitted stitches and remove them from the needle
Esperanto forigi
- forigidiscard or reject
Finnish hylätä, irrottaa
- hylätädiscard or reject
- irrottaato let go
- päätelläfinish the last row of knitted stitches and remove them from the needle
- päättääfinish the last row of knitted stitches and remove them from the needle
French abandonner, larguer les amarres
- abandonnerdiscard or reject
- larguer les amarresto let go
- fermerfinish the last row of knitted stitches and remove them from the needle
- rabattrefinish the last row of knitted stitches and remove them from the needle
German Leinen los, abketten
- Leinen losto let go
- abkettenfinish the last row of knitted stitches and remove them from the needle
Hungarian ledob, levetkőz
- ledobdiscard or reject
- levetkőzdiscard or reject
- megszabaduldiscard or reject
- levetdiscard or reject
- elvetdiscard or reject
- sutba dobdiscard or reject
- eldobdiscard or reject
- kiselejtezdiscard or reject
- elhajítdiscard or reject
- eloldto let go
- leveszfinish the last row of knitted stitches and remove them from the needle
Icelandic fella af
- fella affinish the last row of knitted stitches and remove them from the needle
Irish caith lúb anuas
- caith lúb anuasfinish the last row of knitted stitches and remove them from the needle
Latin repudiō
- repudiōdiscard or reject
Māori ākiri, huhu
- ākiridiscard or reject
- huhuto let go
- kamofinish the last row of knitted stitches and remove them from the needle
Portuguese rechaçar, descartar
- rechaçardiscard or reject
- descartardiscard or reject
- eliminardiscard or reject
Slovak odvrhnúť, zavrhnúť
- odvrhnúťdiscard or reject
- zavrhnúťdiscard or reject
Spanish rechazar, descartar
- rechazardiscard or reject
- descartardiscard or reject
- eliminardiscard or reject
- desamarrarto let go
- levantar amarrasto let go
- soltar las amarrasto let go
Cite this entry
cast off. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/cast%20off
“cast off.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/cast%20off. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “cast off,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/cast%20off.
Source: cast off on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.