cast

English Online Dictionary. What means cast‎? What does cast mean?

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

• (Received Pronunciation) enPR: käst, IPA^(key): /kɑːst/
• (Northern England) enPR: kăst, IPA^(key): /kast/
• (General American) enPR: kăst, IPA^(key): /kæst/
• (New York, New Orleans, Philadelphia, Baltimore) enPR: /kɛəst/
• Homophones: caste; (in some non-rhotic accents) karst
• Rhymes: -ɑːst, -æst

Verb

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

1. (physical) To move, or be moved, away.
   1. (now somewhat literary) To throw. [from 13th c.]

      Synonyms: fling, hurl; see also Thesaurus:throw
   2. To throw forward (a fishing line, net etc.) into the sea. [from 14th c.]

      Synonym: project
   3. To throw down or aside. [from 15th c.]

      Synonyms: cast down, throw down
   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.]

      Synonym: slough

   5. (obsolete except in set phrases) To remove, take off (clothes). [from 14th c.]

      Synonym: doff
   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.
   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.
2. To direct (one's eyes, gaze etc.). [from 13th c.]
3. (dated outside accounting) To add up (a column of figures, accounts etc.); cross-cast refers to adding up a row of figures. [from 14th c.]

   Synonyms: sum, tally; see also Thesaurus:add up
4. (social) To predict, to decide, to plan.
   1. (astrology) To calculate the astrological value of (a horoscope, birth etc.). [from 14th c.]
      • , 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.

      • 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.]

   4. (transitive) To assign a role in a play or performance to (an actor).

   5. (transitive) To describe in an opinionated way. Mostly used with a metaphor involving light.

   6. To consider; to turn or revolve in the mind; to plan.
   7. (archaic) To impose; to bestow; to rest.
   8. (archaic) To defeat in a lawsuit; to decide against; to convict.
   10. To turn (the balance or scale); to overbalance; hence, to make preponderate; to decide.

       Synonyms: decide, determine; see also Thesaurus:choose

       • 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).
6. To throw (light etc.) on or upon something, or in a given direction.

   Synonyms: pour, shed; see also Thesaurus:illuminate
7. (archaic) To give birth to (a child) prematurely; to miscarry. [from 15th c.]
   • , Folio Society, 2006, vol.1, p.98:

     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.
9. To shape (molten metal etc.) by pouring into a mould; to make (an object) in such a way. [from 15th c.]
   1. (printing, dated) To stereotype or electrotype.
10. To twist or warp (of fabric, timber etc.). [from 16th c.]
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. [from 18th c.]
12. To deposit (a ballot or voting paper); to formally register (one's vote). [from 19th c.]
13. (computing) To change a variable type from, for example, integer to real, or integer to text. [from 20th c.]

14. (hunting) Of dogs, hunters: to spread out and search for a scent. [from 18th c.]
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.

Conjugation

Derived terms

Translations

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.
4. Something which has been thrown, dispersed etc.
5. A small mass of earth "thrown off" or excreted by a worm.

6. (art) The collective group of actors performing a play or production together. Contrasted with crew.

7. The casting procedure.

8. An object made in a mould.

9. A supportive and immobilising device used to help mend broken bones.

10. The mould used to make cast objects.

11. (hawking) The number of hawks (or occasionally other birds) cast off at one time; a pair.
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.
13. Visual appearance.
14. The form of one's thoughts, mind etc.
15. Obsolete form of caste (“hereditary social class of South Asia”).
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.

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

• “cast”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.
• William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1911), “cast”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.

Anagrams

• cats, SATC, STCA, TSCA, TACs, TCAs, TACS, acts, CATs, scat, Cats, TCAS, CTAs, ATSC, Acts, ATCs, ACTs

Catalan

Etymology

Likely borrowed from Latin castus.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Central, Balearic, Valencia) [ˈkast]

Adjective

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

1. chaste

Related terms

• castedat

Further reading

• “cast” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.
• “cast” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

Dutch

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [kɑːst]
• 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

• rolbezetting
• rolverdeling

Related terms

• casten

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)

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

   Synonym: pur

Declension

Spanish

Pronunciation

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

Noun

cast m (plural casts)

1. cast (group of actors)