cast

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See also: CAST, Cast, čast, část, časť, çast, and cast.

English

 cast on Wikipedia

Etymology

    Etymology tree
    Proto-Germanic *kas-
    Proto-Germanic *kastōną
    Old Norse kastabor.
    Middle English casten
    English cast

    From Middle English casten, from Old Norse kasta (“to throw, cast, overturn”), from Proto-Germanic *kastōną (“to throw, cast”), of unknown origin.

    Cognate with Scots cast (“to cast, throw”), Danish kaste (“to throw”), Swedish kasta (“to throw, cast, fling, toss, discard”), Icelandic kasta (“to pitch, toss”). In the sense of "flinging", displaced native warp.

    The senses relating to broadcasting are based on that same term; compare -cast.

    Pronunciation

    Verb

    cast (third-person singular simple present casts, present participle casting, simple past and past participle cast or (nonstandard) casted)

    A child with cast legs after surgery (14).
    1. (physical) To move, or be moved, away.
      1. (now somewhat literary) To throw.
        Synonyms: fling, hurl; see also Thesaurus:throw
      2. To throw forward (a fishing line, net etc.) into the sea.
        Synonym: project
      3. To throw down or aside.
        Synonyms: cast down, throw down
        • 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book II, Canto XII”, in The Faerie Queene. , London: [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:
          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 […]
        • 1611, The Holy Bible,  (King James Version), London: Robert Barker, , →OCLC, Matthew 6:30:
          it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell.
        • 1930 December 19, “Sidar the Madman”, in Time:
          Near Puerto Limon, Costa Rica, Madman, co-pilot and plane were caught in a storm, cast into the Caribbean, drowned.
        • 2009, Hilary Mantel, Wolf Hall, Fourth Estate, published 2010, page 316:
          Her bow is not to her liking. In a temper, she casts it on the grass.
      4. (of an animal) To throw off (the skin) as a process of growth; to shed the hair or fur of the coat.
        Synonym: slough
      5. (obsolete except in set phrases) To remove, take off (clothes).
        Synonym: doff
        • 1822, “Life of Donald McBane”, in Blackwood's Magazine, volume 12, page 745:
          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 […].
        • 2002 March 2, Jess Cartner-Morley, “How to Wear Clothes”, in The Guardian:
          You know the saying, "Ne'er cast a clout till May is out"? Well, personally, I'm bored of my winter clothes by March.
      6. (nautical) To heave the lead and line in order to ascertain the depth of water.
      7. (obsolete) To vomit.
        Synonyms: hurl; see also Thesaurus:regurgitate
      8. (archaic) To throw up, as a mound, or rampart.
        • 1611, The Holy Bible,  (King James Version), London: Robert Barker, , →OCLC, Luke 19:48:
          Thine enemies shall cast a trench about thee.
        • 1881, John Kirby Hedges, The history of Wallingford‎, volume 1, page 170:
          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.
      9. (archaic) To 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.
        • 1849, Philip Henry Gosse, Natural History:
          This horned bird, as it casts a strong smell, so it hath a foul look, much exceeding the European Raven in bigness
    2. To direct (one's eyes, gaze etc.).
      • 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 Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, (please specify the act number in uppercase Roman numerals, and the scene number in lowercase Roman numerals):
        To whom do Lyons cast their gentle Lookes? Not to the Beast, that would vsurpe their Den.
      • 1813 January 27, [Jane Austen], chapter 11, in Pride and Prejudice: , volume I, London: for T Egerton, , →OCLC:
        She then yawned again, threw aside her book, and cast her eyes round the room in quest of some amusement […].
      • 1959, Georgette Heyer, chapter 1, in The Unknown Ajax:
        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.
    3. (dated outside accounting) To add up (a column of figures, accounts etc.); cross-cast refers to adding up a row of figures.
      Synonyms: sum, tally; see also Thesaurus:add up
      • c. 1589–1590 (date written), Christopher Marlo, edited by Tho Heywood, The Famous Tragedy of the Rich Iew of Malta. , London: I B for Nicholas Vavasour, , published 1633, →OCLC, Act I:
        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
      • 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 Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, (please specify the act number in uppercase Roman numerals, and the scene number in lowercase Roman numerals):
        The Clearke of Chartam: hee can write and / reade, and cast accompt.
      • 1603, Michel de Montaigne, chapter 17, in John Florio, transl., The Essayes , book II, London: Val Simmes for Edward Blount , →OCLC:
        I cannot yet cast account either with penne or Counters.
      • 1719 May 6 (Gregorian calendar), [Daniel Defoe], The Life and Strange Surprizing Adventures of Robinson Crusoe, , London: W Taylor , →OCLC:
        I cast up the notches on my post, and found I had been on shore three hundred and sixty-five days.
      • 1859, David Morier Evans, “The Royal British Bank—Its Suspension and General Mismanagement”, in Facts, Failures and Frauds, London: Groombridge & Sons, page 337:
        They cast it up and found it agreed with the printed balance-sheet.
      • 2007, George Puttick, Sandy van Esch, “Auditing Revenue Transactions and Balances”, in The Principles and Practice of Auditing, →ISBN, page 637:
        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.
      • 2023, “Procedures”, in Audit and Assurance, Kaplan Financial Limited, →ISBN, page 354:
        Obtain a list of individual customers with balances outstanding at the year end, cast this and agree it to the trade receivables account.
    4. (social) To predict, to decide, to plan.
      1. (astrology) To calculate the astrological value of (a horoscope, birth etc.).
        • 1624, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], The Anatomy of Melancholy: , 2nd edition, Oxford, Oxfordshire: John Lichfield and James Short, for Henry Cripps, →OCLC:
          , vol.1, New York Review of Books, 2001, p.309:
          he is a perfect astrologer, that can cast the rise and fall of others, and mark their errant motions to his own use.
        • 1971, Keith Thomas, Religion and the Decline of Magic, Folio Society, published 2012, page 332:
          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.
        • 1985, Lawrence Durrell, Quinx, Faber & Faber 2004 (Avignon Quintet), p.1197:
          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.
      2. (obsolete) To plan, intend.
        • 1485, Thomas Malory, Le Morte Darthur Book XIX, Chapter i leaf 386v:
          [...] 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."
        • 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book II, Canto I”, in The Faerie Queene. , London: [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:
          I wrapt my selfe in Palmers weed, / And cast to seeke him forth through daunger and great dreed.
        • 1685, William Temple, "Upon the Gardens of Epicurus:
          The cloister […] had, I doubt not, been cast for [an orange-house].
      3. (transitive) To assign (a role in a play or performance).
        The director cast the part carefully.
      4. (transitive) To assign a role in a play or performance to (an actor).
        The director cast John Smith as King Lear.
      5. (transitive) To 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. To consider; to turn or revolve in the mind; to plan.
        to cast about for reasons
      7. (archaic) To impose; to bestow; to rest.
      8. (archaic) To defeat in a lawsuit; to decide against; to convict.
        to be cast in damages
        • 1822, John Galt, The Provost:
          She was cast to be hanged.
        • 1667, attributed to Richard Allestree, The Causes of the Decay of Christian Piety. , London: R. Norton for T. Garthwait, , →OCLC:
          Were the case referred to any competent judge, […] they would inevitably be cast.
      10. To turn (the balance or scale); to overbalance; hence, to make preponderate; to decide.
        Synonyms: decide, determine; see also Thesaurus:choose
        a casting voice
        • 24 July, 1659, Robert South, Interest Deposed, and Truth Restored
          How much interest casts the balance in cases dubious!
    5. To perform, bring forth (a magical spell or enchantment).
      • 1936, Rollo Ahmed, The Black Art, London: Long, page 178:
        Sorcery is not the exclusive prerogative of the fetish-man, but is practised haphazardly by anyone who wishes to cast a spell upon another.
    6. To throw (light etc.) on or upon something, or in a given direction.
      Synonyms: pour, shed; see also Thesaurus:illuminate
      • 1950 April 24, “A Global View”, in Time:
        The threat of Russian barbarism sweeping over the free world will cast its ominous shadow over us for many, many years.
      • 1960, Lawrence Durrell, Clea:
        A sudden thought cast a gloom over his countenance.
      • 1972, “Thick As A Brick”, Ian Anderson (lyrics), performed by Jethro Tull:
        The Poet and the Painter
        Casting shadows on the water
        As the sun plays on the infantry
        Returning from the sea.
    7. (archaic) To give birth to (a child) prematurely; to miscarry.
    9. To shape (molten metal etc.) by pouring into a mould; to make (an object) in such a way.
      • 1923 March 24, “Rodin's Death”, in Time:
        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.
      • 1944 November and December, A Former Pupil, “Some Memories of Crewe Works—II”, in Railway Magazine, page 343:
        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.
      1. (printing, dated) To stereotype or electrotype.
    10. To twist or warp (of fabric, timber etc.).
      • c. 1680, Joseph Moxon, The Art of Joinery:
        Stuff is said to cast or warp when […] it alters its flatness or straightness.
    11. (nautical) To 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.
    12. To deposit (a ballot or voting paper); to formally register (one's vote).
    13. (computing) To change a variable type from, for example, integer to real, or integer to text.
      To display a number, you need to cast it to a string type.
    14. (hunting) Of dogs, hunters: to spread out and search for a scent.
      • 1955, William Golding, The Inheritors, Faber and Faber, published 2005, page 50:
        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.
    15. (medicine) To set (a bone etc.) in a cast.
      (Can we add an example for this sense?)
    16. (Wicca) To open a circle in order to begin a spell or meeting of witches.
    17. (media) To 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.

    Conjugation

    Conjugation of cast
    infinitive (to) cast
    present tense past tense
    1st-person singular cast cast
    2nd-person singular cast, castest† cast, castest†
    3rd-person singular casts, casteth† cast
    plural cast
    subjunctive cast cast
    imperative cast —
    participles casting cast

    †Archaic or obsolete.

    Derived terms

    Translations

    The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
    Translations to be checked

    Noun

    cast (plural casts)

    1. An act of throwing.
    2. The number rolled on a die when it is thrown.
    3. (fishing) An instance of throwing out a fishing line.
      • 1886, Peter Christen Asbjørnsen, translated by H.L. Brækstad, Folk and Fairy Tales, page 152:
        I went out on the timber boom and made a few casts, but with little success.
    4. Something which has been thrown, dispersed etc.
    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. The collective group of actors performing a play or production together. Contrasted with crew.
      He’s in the cast of Oliver.
      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. (hawking) The number of hawks (or occasionally other birds) cast off at one time; a pair.
      • 1596, Edmund Spenser, “Book VI, Canto VII”, in The Faerie Queene. , London: [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:
        As when a cast of Faulcons make their flight / An an Herneshaw, that lyes aloft on wing […]
      • 2007, Tim Blanning, The Pursuit of Glory, Penguin, published 2013, page 395:
        Louis XIV was keen, employing a total hawking personnel of 175 and adding a fourth cast of gyrfalcons to hunt hares in 1682 […] .
    12. A squint.
      • 1847, John Churchill, A manual of the principles and practice of ophthalmic medicine and surgery, p. 389, paragraph 1968:
        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.
      • 2011, Thomas Penn, Winter King, Penguin, published 2012, page 7:
        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.
    13. Visual appearance.
      Her features had a delicate cast to them.
      • 2004, Betsy Brill, Photojournalism: The Professional's Approach‎, page 240:
        Using a tungsten-balanced film outdoors results in a blue cast to the photo.
      • 2007, Lindsay Armstrong, The Australian's Housekeeper Bride‎, page 78:
        He stared down at his champagne glass with narrowed eyes and a hard cast to his mouth.
    14. The form of one's thoughts, mind etc.
      • 1894, Wilson Lloyd Bevan, Sir William Petty : A Study in English Economic Literature, page 40:
        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.
      • 1928 February, H P Lovecraft, “The Call of Cthulhu”, in Farnsworth Wright, editor, Weird Tales: A Magazine of the Bizarre and Unusual, volume 11, number 2, Indianapolis, Ind.: Popular Fiction Pub. Co., →OCLC, pages 159–178 and 287:
        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.
      • 1992, Hilary Mantel, A Place of Greater Safety, Harper Perennial, published 2007, page 330:
        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.
    15. Obsolete form of caste (“hereditary social class of South Asia”).
      • 1821, Report of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, volumes 12-16, page 160:
        The brahmin's cast is higher than any other cast.
    16. Animal and insect remains which have been regurgitated by a bird.
    17. A group of crabs.
    18. (firearms) The measurement of the angle of a shotgun stock from a top-view center line, used to align the shotgun to the shooter's eye.
      • Savage Arms, "THE PERFECT SHOTGUN FIT," 2021
        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.”
    19. A chance or attempt at something.
      Hyponym: last cast
    20. (archaic, colloquial) Assistance given by transporting a person or lightening their labour.
      • 1852, Chambers' Edinburgh Journal, volumes 17-18, page 398:
        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, […]
      • 1882, Sir James William Redhouse, The Turkish Vade-Mecum of Ottoman Colloquial Language, page 328:
        boatman, just give us a cast over to the other side of the water.

    Derived terms

    Translations

    Adjective

    cast (not comparable)

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

    Further reading

    Anagrams

    Catalan

    Etymology

    Likely borrowed from Latin castus.

    Pronunciation

    Adjective

    cast (feminine casta, masculine plural casts or castos, feminine plural castes)

    1. chaste

    Further reading

    Dutch

    Pronunciation

    Etymology 1

    Borrowed from English cast.

    Noun

    cast m (plural casts, diminutive castje n)

    1. cast (people performing a movie or play)
    Synonyms

    Etymology 2

    See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

    Verb

    cast

    1. inflection of casten:
      1. first/second/third-person singular present indicative
      2. imperative

    Italian

    Etymology

    Unadapted borrowing from English cast.

    Pronunciation

    • IPA(key): /ˈkast/
    • Rhymes: -ast
    • Hyphenation: càst

    Noun

    cast m (invariable)

    1. cast (group of actors performing together)

    Manx

    Adjective

    cast

    1. contorted, curly, curved
    2. complex, intricate, many-sided
    3. ticklish

    Derived terms

    Mutation

    Manx mutation
    Radical Lenition Eclipsis
    cast chast gast
    Note: Some of these forms may be hypothetical. Not every
    possible mutated form of every word actually occurs.

    Romanian

    Etymology

    Borrowed from Latin castus.

    Pronunciation

    Adjective

    cast m or n (feminine singular castă, masculine plural caști, feminine and neuter plural caste)

    1. chaste, clean, pure
      Synonym: pur

    Declension

    singular plural
    masculine neuter feminine masculine neuter feminine
    nominative-
    accusative     		indefinite cast castă caști caste
    definite castul casta caștii castele
    genitive-
    dative     		indefinite cast caste caști caste
    definite castului castei caștilor castelor

    Spanish

    Pronunciation

    • IPA(key): /ˈkast/
    • Rhymes: -ast
    • Syllabification: cast

    Noun

    cast m (plural casts)

    1. cast (group of actors)
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