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Entry 44 senses · 4 variants Webster, 1913

Cast

/(kȧst)/ · IPA /kæst/
01 v. t. To send or drive by force; to throw; to fling; to hurl; to impel.
imp. & p. p. Cast; p. pr. & vb. n. Casting
  1. 1.
    To send or drive by force; to throw; to fling; to hurl; to impel.
    “Uzziah prepared . . . slings to cast stones.” — 2 Chron. xxvi. 14.
    “Cast thy garment about thee, and follow me.” — Acts. xii. 8.
    “We must be cast upon a certain island.” — Acts. xxvii. 26.
  2. 2.
    To direct or turn, as the eyes.
    “How earnestly he cast his eyes upon me!” — Shak.
  3. 3.
    To drop; to deposit; as, to cast a ballot.
  4. 4.
    To throw down, as in wrestling.
  5. 5.
    To throw up, as a mound, or rampart.
    “Thine enemies shall cast a trench [bank] about thee.” — Luke xix. 48.
  6. 6.
    To throw off; to eject; to shed; to lose.
    “His filth within being cast.” — Shak.
    “Neither shall your vine cast her fruit.” — Mal. iii. 11
    “The creatures that cast the skin are the snake, the viper, etc.” — Bacon.
  7. 7.
    To bring forth prematurely; to slink.
    “Thy she-goats have not cast their young.” — Gen. xxi. 38.
  8. 8.
    To throw out or emit; to exhale.[Obs.]
    “This . . . casts a sulphureous smell.” — Woodward.
  9. 9.
    To cause to fall; to shed; to reflect; to throw; as, to cast a ray upon a screen; to cast light upon a subject.
  10. 10.
    To impose; to bestow; to rest.
    “The government I cast upon my brother.” — Shak.
    “Cast thy burden upon the Lord.” — Ps. iv. 22.
  11. 11.
    To dismiss; to discard; to cashier.[Obs.]
    “The state can not with safety cast him.”
  12. 12.
    To compute; to reckon; to calculate; as, to cast a horoscope.
    “You cast the event of war, my noble lord.” — Shak.
  13. 13.
    To contrive; to plan.[Archaic]
    “The cloister . . . had, I doubt not, been cast for [an orange-house].” — Sir W. Temple.
  14. 14.
    To defeat in a lawsuit; to decide against; to convict; as, to be cast in damages.
    “She was cast to be hanged.” — Jeffrey.
    “Were the case referred to any competent judge, they would inevitably be cast.” — Dr. H. More.
  15. 15.
    To turn (the balance or scale); to overbalance; hence, to make preponderate; to decide; as, a casting voice.
    “How much interest casts the balance in cases dubious!” — South.
  16. 16.
    To form into a particular shape, by pouring liquid metal or other material into a mold; to fashion; to found; as, to cast bells, stoves, bullets.
  17. 17.
    To stereotype or electrotype.(Print.)
  18. 18.
    To fix, distribute, or allot, as the parts of a play among actors; also to assign (an actor) for a part.
    “Our parts in the other world will be new cast.” — Addison.
Phrases & compounds
To cast anchor — See under Anchor.
To cast a horoscope — to calculate it.
To cast a horse, sheep, — to throw with the feet upwards, in such a manner as to prevent its rising again.
To cast a shoe — to throw off or lose a shoe, said of a horse or ox.
To cast aside — to throw or push aside; to neglect; to reject as useless or inconvenient.
To cast away — To throw away; to lavish; to waste.
To cast by — to reject; to dismiss or discard; to throw away.
To cast down — to throw down; to destroy; to deject or depress, as the mind.
To cast forth — to throw out, or eject, as from an inclosed place; to emit; to send out.
To cast in one's lot with — to share the fortunes of.
To cast in one's teeth — to upbraid or abuse one for; to twin.
To cast lots — See under Lot.
To cast off — To discard or reject; to drive away; to put off; to free one's self from.
To cast off copy — to estimate how much printed matter a given amount of copy will make, or how large the page must be in order that the copy may make a given number of pages.
To cast one's self on [or] upon — to yield or submit one's self unreservedly to, as to the mercy of another.
To cast out — to throw out; to eject, as from a house; to cast forth; to expel; to utter.
To cast the lead — to sound by dropping the lead to the bottom.
To cast the water — to examine the urine for signs of disease.
To cast up — To throw up; to raise.
02 v. i. To throw, as a line in angling, esp, with a fly hook.
  1. 1.
    To throw, as a line in angling, esp, with a fly hook.
  2. 2.
    To turn the head of a vessel around from the wind in getting under weigh.(Naut.)
    “Weigh anchor, cast to starboard.” — Totten.
  3. 3.
    To consider; to turn or revolve in the mind; to plan; as, to cast about for reasons.
    “She . . . cast in her mind what manner of salution this should be.” — Luke. i. 29.
  4. 4.
    To calculate; to compute.[R.]
    “Who would cast and balance at a desk.” — Tennyson.
  5. 5.
    To receive form or shape in a mold.
    “It will not run thin, so as to cast and mold.” — Woodward.
  6. 6.
    To warp; to become twisted out of shape.
    “Stuff is said to cast or warp when . . . it alters its flatness or straightness.” — Moxon.
  7. 7.
    To vomit.
    “These verses . . . make me ready to cast.” — B. Jonson.
03 3d pers. pres. 3d pers. pres. of Cast, for Casteth.
  1. 1.
    3d pers. pres. of Cast, for Casteth.[Obs.] See: Cast
04 n. The act of casting or throwing; a throw.
  1. 1.
    The act of casting or throwing; a throw.
  2. 2.
    The thing thrown.
    “A cast of dreadful dust.” — Dryden.
  3. 3.
    The distance to which a thing is or can be thrown.
  4. 4.
    A throw of dice; hence, a chance or venture.
    “An even cast whether the army should march this way or that way.” — Sowth.
    “I have set my life upon a cast, And I will stand the hazard of the die.” — Shak.
  5. 5.
    That which is throw out or off, shed, or ejected; as, the skin of an insect, the refuse from a hawk's stomach, the excrement of a earthworm.
  6. 6.
    The act of casting in a mold.
    “And why such daily cast of brazen cannon.” — Shak.
  7. 7.
    An impression or mold, taken from a thing or person; amold; a pattern.
  8. 8.
    That which is formed in a mild; esp. a reproduction or copy, as of a work of art, in bronze or plaster, etc.; a casting.
  9. 9.
    Form; appearence; mien; air; style; as, a peculiar cast of countenance.
    “An heroic poem, but in another cast and figure.” — Prior.
    “And thus the native hue of resolution Is sicklied o'er with the pale cast of thought.” — Shak.
  10. 10.
    A tendency to any color; a tinge; a shade.
    “Gray with a cast of green.” — Woodward.
  11. 11.
    A chance, opportunity, privilege, or advantage; specifically, an opportunity of riding; a lift.[Scotch]
    “We bargained with the driver to give us a cast to the next stage.” — Smollett.
    “If we had the cast o' a cart to bring it.” — Sir W. Scott.
  12. 12.
    The assignment of parts in a play to the actors.
  13. 13.
    A flight or a couple or set of hawks let go at one time from the hand.(Falconary)
    “As when a cast of falcons make their flight.” — Spenser.
  14. 14.
    A stoke, touch, or trick.[Obs.]
    “This was a cast of Wood's politics; for his information was wholly false.” — Swift.
  15. 15.
    A motion or turn, as of the eye; direction; look; glance; squint.
    “The cast of the eye is a gesture of aversion.” — Bacon.
    “And let you see with one cast of an eye.” — Addison.
    “This freakish, elvish cast came into the child's eye.” — Hawthorne.
  16. 16.
    A tube or funnel for conveying metal into a mold.
  17. 17.
    Four; that is, as many as are thrown into a vessel at once in counting herrings, etc; a warp.
  18. 18.
    Contrivance; plot, design.[Obs.]
Phrases & compounds
A cast of the eye — a slight squint or strabismus.
Renal cast — microscopic bodies found in the urine of persons affected with disease of the kidneys; -- so called because they are formed of matter deposited in, and preserving the outline of, the renal tubes.
The last cast — the last throw of the dice or last effort, on which every thing is ventured; the last chance.