uncast

From un- +‎ cast.

uncast (third-person singular simple present uncasts, present participle uncasting, simple past and past participle uncast)

1. (nautical) To detach (a rope, line, etc.).
   • 1846, Francis Bond Head, chapter 12, in The Emigrant‎, London: John Murray, page 264:

     […] the vessel, uncasting the hawser which had detained it, instantly left the ice […]

   • 1932, Neville Shute, Lonely Road‎, London: Heinemann, Chapter:

     […] I pulled up my dinghy and uncast the painter, and pushed off and left them there together, Sir Philip and Lady Stenning.

2. To bring back to a standing position (a horse or other large animal that is lying down with its legs under it).
   • 1998, Joan Grady-Fitchett, Flying Lessons: On the Wings of Parkinson’s Disease‎, New York: Forge, Entry Thirty, p. 144:

     At about one o’clock we finally put Araby in her stall, but she kept getting cast. She would roll over, hitting the side of the stall with her legs and was unable to get up. […] We had to uncast her every fifteen minutes from one A.M. until seven the next morning.

3. To reverse the effects of (a magical spell).
   • 1920, Margaret Lynch Conger, “The Good Housewife and her Labors”, in Folk Story Plays for Children‎, New York: James A. McCann:

     The while it is the fairies’ hour
     The fairies’ tricks are full of power.
     But when the hour is overpast
     By wisdom we their spells uncast.

   • 2002, Dirk Wittenborn, chapter 11, in Fierce People‎, New York: Bloomsbury, page 94:

     […] I saw the shamans casting and uncasting spells to protect themselves and steal the souls of their neighbors’ children.

4. To remove (an actor) from a role that was previously assigned to them.
   • 1998, Richard E. Grant, “High Anxiety”, in By Design: A Hollywood Novel‎, London: Picador, page 125:

     ‘You CANNOT uncast me, Randy!’ hurtles from the prostrate patient.
     ‘Keep calm. I’m not saying you’re gonna get uncast. It’s just that having shot yourself, the insurance people are gonna be problematic. But it’ll be sorted. Trust me.’

uncast (not comparable)

1. Not having been cast (in various senses).
   • 1662, Robert Venables, chapter 10, in The Experienc’d Angler‎, London: Richard Marriot, page 100:

     […] if in casting your flie, the line fall into the water before it, the flie were better uncast, because it frights the fish […]

   • 1861, Christina Rossetti, “Promises Like Pie-Crust”, in William Michael Rossetti, editor, New Poems by Christina Rossetti: hitherto unpublished or uncollected‎, London: Macmillan, published 1896, page 130:

     Let us hold the die uncast,
     Free to come as free to go:
     For I cannot know your past,
     And of mine what can you know?

   • 1999 October 13, Erica Goode, “Gentle Drive to Make Voters of Those with Mental Illness”, in The New York Times:

     Defeated, Ms. Denny, who has suffered from manic-depression for 35 years, returned home, her ballot uncast, as it has been in every election since she first registered to vote 15 years ago.

   • 2007 October 8, Allan Kozinn, “Whofore Art Thou, O Tenor?”, in New York Times‎:

     The chances are slim. Mr. Kaiser is scheduled to sing on Thursday, and then the production is on hiatus until December. Mr. Giordani is not available for the uncast performances.

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