Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

Cast

Cast (kȧst) , transitive verb

[Compare Danish kaste, Icelandic & Swedish kasta; perh. akin to Latin gerere to bear, carry. English jest.]

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.
To direct or turn, as the eyes.
How earnestly he cast his eyes upon me! — Shakespeare
3.
To drop; to deposit; as, to cast a ballot.
4.
To throw down, as in wrestling. — Shakespeare
5.
To throw up, as a mound, or rampart.
Thine enemies shall cast a trench [bank] about thee. — Luke xix. 48
6.
To throw off; to eject; to shed; to lose.
His filth within being cast. — Shakespeare
Neither shall your vine cast her fruit. — Mal. iii. 11
The creatures that cast the skin are the snake, the viper, etc. — Bacon
7.
To bring forth prematurely; to slink.
Thy she-goats have not cast their young. — Gen. xxi. 38
8.
To throw out or emit; to exhale. [Obsolete]
This... casts a sulphureous smell. — Woodward
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.
To impose; to bestow; to rest.
The government I cast upon my brother. — Shakespeare
Cast thy burden upon the Lord. — Bible (KJV) - Psalm iv. 22
11.
To dismiss; to discard; to cashier. [Obsolete]
The state can not with safety cast him.
12.
To compute; to reckon; to calculate; as, to cast a horoscope.
Let it be cast and paid. — Shakespeare
You cast the event of war, my noble lord. — Shakespeare
13.
To contrive; to plan. [Archaic]
The cloister... had, I doubt not, been cast for [an orange-house]. — Sir W. Temple
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.
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.
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.
(Printing) To stereotype or electrotype.
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
Collocations (19)
To cast anchor (Nautical) , See under Anchor.
To cast a horoscope , to calculate it.
To cast a or 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 , (a) To throw away; to lavish; to waste. Cast away a life — Addison (b) To reject; to let perish. Cast away his people. — Rom. xi. 1 Cast one away. — Shakespeare (c) To wreck. Cast away and sunk. — Shakespeare
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. Why art thou cast down. O my soul? — Bible (KJV) - Psalm xiii. 5
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 (Hunting) , (a) To discard or reject; to drive away; to put off; to free one's self from. To leave behind, as dogs; also, to set loose, or free, as dogs. — Crabb To untie, throw off, or let go, as a rope.
To cast off copy (Printing) , 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 To cast one's self 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 (Nautical) , to sound by dropping the lead to the bottom.
To cast the water (Medicine) , to examine the urine for signs of disease. [Obsolete]
To cast up , (a) To throw up; to raise. (b) To compute; to reckon, as the cost. (c) To vomit. (d) To twit with; to throw in one's teeth.

Cast (kȧst) , intransitive verb

1.
To throw, as a line in angling, esp, with a fly hook.
2.
(Nautical) To turn the head of a vessel around from the wind in getting under weigh.
Weigh anchor, cast to starboard. — Totten
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.
To calculate; to compute. [Rare]
Who would cast and balance at a desk. — Tennyson
5.
To receive form or shape in a mold.
It will not run thin, so as to cast and mold. — Woodward
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.
To vomit.
These verses... make me ready to cast. — B. Jonson

Cast , 3d pers. pres.

3d pers. pres. of Cast, for Casteth. [Obsolete] — Chaucer

Cast , noun

[Compare Icelandic, Danish, & Swedish kast.]

1.
The act of casting or throwing; a throw.
2.
The thing thrown.
A cast of dreadful dust. — Dryden
3.
The distance to which a thing is or can be thrown.
About a stone's cast. — Luke xxii. 41
4.
A throw of dice; hence, a chance or venture.
An even cast whether the army should march this way or that way.
I have set my life upon a cast, And I will stand the hazard of the die. — Shakespeare
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.
The act of casting in a mold.
And why such daily cast of brazen cannon. — Shakespeare
7.
An impression or mold, taken from a thing or person; amold; a pattern.
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.
Form; appearance; mien; air; style; as, a peculiar cast of countenance.
A neat cast of verse. — Pope
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. — Shakespeare
10.
A tendency to any color; a tinge; a shade.
Gray with a cast of green. — Woodward
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.
The assignment of parts in a play to the actors.
13.
(Falconary) A flight or a couple or set of hawks let go at one time from the hand. — Grabb
As when a cast of falcons make their flight. — Spenser
14.
A stoke, touch, or trick. [Obsolete]
This was a cast of Wood's politics; for his information was wholly false. — Swift
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.
A tube or funnel for conveying metal into a mold.
17.
Four; that is, as many as are thrown into a vessel at once in counting herrings, etc; a warp.
18.
Contrivance; plot, design. [Obsolete] — Chaucer
Collocations (3)
A cast of the eye , a slight squint or strabismus.
Renal cast (Medicine) , 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.