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Cast

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cast¹

  • /kɑːst/ UK
  • /kast/ Northern England, Scotland
  • /kæst/ US

Sounds like caste, (in some non-rhotic accents) karst · Rhymes with -ɑːst, -æst

Where it comes from

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.

verb casts · casting · cast · casted

  1. physical To 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.
  2. literary, physical To throw. 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[…].
  3. physical To throw forward (a fishing line, net etc.) into the sea. 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)[…].
  4. physical To throw down or aside. 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 […]
  5. physical To throw off (the skin) as a process of growth; to shed the hair or fur of the coat.
  6. physical To shed leaves or fruit prematurely.
  7. physical To remove, take off (clothes). 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[…].
  8. physical To heave the lead and line in order to ascertain the depth of water.
  9. obsolete, physical To vomit. These verses[…]make me ready to cast.
  10. archaic, physical To throw up, as a mound, or rampart. Thine enemies shall cast a trench [bank] about thee.
  11. archaic, physical 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.
  12. To direct (one's eyes, gaze etc.). To whom do Lyons cast their gentle Lookes? Not to the Beast, that would vsurpe their Den.
  13. To add up (a column of figures, accounts etc.); cross-cast refers to adding up a row of figures. 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
  14. To calculate the astrological value of (a horoscope, birth etc.). he is […] a perfect astrologer, that can cast the rise and fall of others, and mark their errant motions to his own use.
  15. obsolete To plan, intend. [...] 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."
  16. transitive To assign (a role in a play or performance). The director cast the part carefully.
  17. transitive To assign a role in a play or performance to (an actor). The director cast John Smith as King Lear.
  18. 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.
  19. To consider; to turn or revolve in the mind; to plan. to cast about for reasons
  20. archaic To impose; to bestow; to rest. The government I cast upon my brother.
  21. archaic To defeat in a lawsuit; to decide against; to convict. to be cast in damages
  22. To turn (the balance or scale); to overbalance; hence, to make preponderate; to decide. a casting voice
  23. 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.
  24. To throw (light etc.) on or upon something, or in a given direction. The threat of Russian barbarism sweeping over the free world will cast its ominous shadow over us for many, many years.
  25. archaic To give birth to (a child) prematurely; to miscarry. 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.
  26. To shape (molten metal etc.) by pouring into a mould; to make (an object) in such a way. 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.
  27. dated To stereotype or electrotype.
  28. To twist or warp (of fabric, timber etc.). Stuff is said to cast or warp when[…]it alters its flatness or straightness.
  29. 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.
  30. To deposit (a ballot or voting paper); to formally register (one's vote). Time to tell all the ballots cast by voters in the box.
  31. 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.
  32. Of dogs, hunters: to spread out and search for a scent. 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.
  33. To set (a bone etc.) in a cast.
  34. To open a circle in order to begin a spell or meeting of witches.
  35. 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.

noun casts

  1. An act of throwing.
  2. The number rolled on a die when it is thrown.
  3. An instance of throwing out a fishing line. I went out on the timber boom and made a few casts, but with little success.
  4. Something which has been thrown, dispersed etc. a cast of scatter'd dust
  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. He’s in the cast of Oliver.
  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. collective The 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 […]
  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.
  13. Visual appearance. Her features had a delicate cast to them.
  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.
  15. obsolete Obsolete form of caste (“hereditary social class of South Asia”).caste The brahmin's cast is higher than any other cast.
  16. Animal and insect remains which have been regurgitated by a bird.
  17. collective A group of crabs. 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.
  18. Norfolk, collective, historical Two crabs. Coordinate term: hundred
  19. 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. 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.”
  20. A chance or attempt at something.
  21. archaic, colloquial Assistance given by transporting a person or lightening their labour. 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, […]

adjective

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

Cast²

Where it comes from

* As a German surname, Americanized from Kast.

* As an English surname, variant of Cass.

* As a French surname, from Cast, Finistère in Brittany, ultimately from Latin castra (“fortification”). Sometimes also a variant of Caste, from Old French chaste (“chaste”).

proper noun Casts

  1. A surname.

CAST³

proper noun

  1. abbreviation, initialism Initialism of Coalition to Abolish Slavery and Trafficking.Coalition to Abolish Slavery and Trafficking

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