cast

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

English

Etymology

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. [from 13th c.]
    2. To throw forward (a fishing line, net etc.) into the sea. [from 14th c.]
    3. To throw down or aside. [from 15th c.]
    4. (of an animal) To throw off (the skin) as a process of growth; to shed the hair or fur of the coat. [from 15th c.]
    5. (obsolete except in set phrases) To remove, take off (clothes). [from 14th c.]
      • 1822, "Life of Donald McBane", Blackwood's Magazine, vol.12, p.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, Jess Cartner-Morley, "How to Wear Clothes", The Guardian, 2 March:
        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.
    8. (archaic) To throw up, as a mound, or rampart.
      • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], OCLC 964384981, Luke 19:48:
        Thine enemies shall cast a trench [bank] 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.). [from 13th c.]
  3. (dated) To add up (a column of figures, accounts etc.); cross-cast refers to adding up a row of figures. [from 14th c.]
  4. (social) To predict, to decide, to plan.
    1. (astrology) To calculate the astrological value of (a horoscope, birth etc.). [from 14th c.]
      • 1624, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], The Anatomy of Melancholy: […], 2nd edition, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Printed by John Lichfield and James Short, for Henry Cripps, OCLC 54573970:
        , 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, 2012, p.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. [14th–19th c.]
    3. (transitive) To assign (a role in a play or performance). [from 18th c.]
      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. To consider; to turn or revolve in the mind; to plan.
      to cast about for reasons
    6. (archaic) To impose; to bestow; to rest.
    7. (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 1114833197:
        Were the case referred to any competent judge, […] they would inevitably be cast.
    8. To turn (the balance or scale); to overbalance; hence, to make preponderate; to decide.
      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.
    • 1950, "A Global View", Time, 24 April:
      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, Ian Anderson (lyrics), “Thick As A Brick”, 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. [from 15th c.]
  8. To shape (molten metal etc.) by pouring into a mould; to make (an object) in such a way. [from 15th c.]
    • 1923, "Rodin's Death", Time, 24 March:
      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.
  9. To twist or warp (of fabric, timber etc.). [from 16th c.]
    • c. 1680, Joseph Moxon, The Art of Joinery
      Stuff is said to cast or warp when […] it alters its flatness or straightness.
  10. (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. [from 18th c.]
  11. To deposit (a ballot or voting paper); to formally register (one's vote). [from 19th c.]
  12. (computing) To change a variable type from, for example, integer to real, or integer to text. [from 20th c.]
    Casting is generally an indication of bad design.
  13. (hunting) Of dogs, hunters: to spread out and search for a scent. [from 18th c.]
    • 1955, William Golding, The Inheritors, Faber and Faber, 2005, p.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.
  14. (medicine) To set (a bone etc.) in a cast.
    (Can we add an example for this sense?)
  15. (Wicca) To open a circle in order to begin a spell or meeting of witches.
  16. (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. (fishing) An instance of throwing out a fishing line.
    • 1886, Peter Christen Asbjørnsen, H.L. Brækstad, transl., Folk and Fairy Tales, page 152:
      I went out on the timber boom and made a few casts, but with little success.
  3. Something which has been thrown, dispersed etc.
  4. A small mass of earth "thrown off" or excreted by a worm.
    The area near the stream was covered with little bubbly worm casts.
  5. 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.
  6. The casting procedure.
    The men got into position for the cast, two at the ladle, two with long rods, all with heavy clothing.
  7. An object made in a mould.
    The cast would need a great deal of machining to become a recognizable finished part.
  8. A supportive and immobilising device used to help mend broken bones.
    The doctor put a cast on the boy’s broken arm.
  9. The mould used to make cast objects.
    A plaster cast was made from his face.
  10. (hawking) The number of hawks (or occasionally other birds) cast off at one time; a pair.
  11. 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 2012, p. 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.
  12. 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.
  13. The form of one's thoughts, mind etc.
    a cast of mind, a mental tendency.
  14. Animal and insect remains which have been regurgitated by a bird.
  15. A group of crabs.

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

Adjective

cast (not comparable)

  1. Of a horse: Having lain down in a position from which it cannot rise on its own, because its legs are too close to a wall, fence or other obstacle.

Further reading
  • cast at OneLook Dictionary Search
  • cast in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911

Anagrams

Catalan

Etymology

From Latin castus, likely borrowed.

Pronunciation

Adjective

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

  1. chaste

Further reading

Dutch

Pronunciation
  • IPA(key): [kɑːst]
  • Audio(file)
  • Hyphenation: cast

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. first-, second- and third-person singular present indicative of casten
  2. imperative of casten

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
RadicalLenitionEclipsis
castchastgast
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
  • IPA(key): /kast/

Adjective

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

  1. chaste, clean, pure

Declension
Declension of cast
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

Synonyms

Spanish

Pronunciation
  • IPA(key): /ˈkast/ [ˈkast̪]
  • Rhymes: -ast
  • Syllabification: cast

Noun

cast m (plural casts)

  1. cast (group of actors)
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