CAST, v.t. pret. And pp. cast.

1. The act of casting; a throw; the thing thrown; the form or state of throwing; kind or manner of throwing.
2. The distance passed by a thing thrown; or the space through which a thing thrown may ordinarily pass; as, about a stone's cast. – Luke xxii.
3. A stroke; a touch. This was a cast of Wood's politics. – Swift.
4. Motion or turn of the eye; direction, look or glance; a squinting. They let you see by one cast of the eye. – Addison.
5. A throw of dice; hence, a state of chance or hazard. It is an even cast, whether the army should march this way or that way. – South. Hence the phrase, the last cast, is used to denote that all is ventured on one throw, or one effort.
6. Form; shape. A heroic poem in another cast. – Prior.
7. A tinge; a slight coloring, or slight degree of a color; as, a cast of green. Hence, a slight alteration in external appearance, or deviation from natural appearance. The native hue of resolution / Is sicklied o'er with the pale cast of thought. – Shak.
8. Manner; air; mien; as, a peculiar cast of countenance. This sense implies, the turn or manner of throwing; as the neat cast of verse. – Pope.
9. A flight; a number of hawks let go at once. – Sidney.
10. A small statue of bronze, plaster, &c. – Encyc.
11. Among founders, a tube of wax, fitted into a mold, to give shape to metal.
12. A cylindrical piece of brass or copper, slit in two lengthwise, to form a canal or conduit, in a mold, for conveying metal.
13. Among plumbers, a little brazen funnel, at one end of a mold, for casting pipes without sodering, by means of which the melted metal is poured into the mold. – Encyc.
14. Whatever is cast in a mold.
15. [Sp. and Port. casta.] A breed, race, lineage, kind, sort.
16. An assignment of the parts of a play to the several actors.
17. A trick. – Martin.

1. To throw forward, as the thoughts, with a view to some determination; or to turn or revolve in the mind; to contrive; sometimes followed by about. I cast in careful mind to seek her out. – Spenser. To cast about how to perform or obtain. – Bacon. Bentley.
2. To receive form or shape. Metal will cast and mold. – Woodward.
3. To warp; to twist from regular shape. Stuff is said to cast or warp, when it alters its flatness or straightness. – Moxon. Note. Cast, like throw and warp, implies a winding motion.
4. In seamen's language, to fall off, or incline, so as to bring the side of a ship to the wind; applied particularly to a ship riding with her head to the wind, when her anchor is first loosened.

1. To throw, fling or send; that is, to drive from, by force, as from the hand, or from an engine. Hagar cast the child under a shrub. Gen. xxi. Uzziah prepared slings to cast stones. 2 Ch. xxvi.
2. To sow; to scatter seed. If a man should cast seed into the ground. Mark iv.
3. To drive or impel by violence. A mighty west wind cast the locusts into the sea. Ex. x.
4. To shed or throw off; as, trees cast their fruit; a serpent casts his skin.
5. To throw or let fall; as, to cast anchor. Hence, to cast anchor is to moor, as a ship, the effect of casting the anchor.
6. To throw, as dice or lots; as, to cast lots.
7. To throw on the ground, as in wrestling. – Shak.
8. To throw away, as worthless. His carcass was cast in the way. 1 Kings xiii.
9. To emit or throw out. This casts a sulphureous smell. – Woodward.
10. To throw, to extend, as a trench or rampart, including the sense of digging, raising, or forming. Thy enemies shall cast a trench about thee. Luke xix.
11. To thrust; as, to cast into prison.
12. To put, or set, in a particular state. Both chariot and horse are cast into a dead sleep. Ps. lxxvi.
13. To condemn; to convict; as a criminal. Both tried, and both were cast. – Dryden.
14. To overcome in a civil suit, or in any contest of strength or skill; as, to cast the defendant or an antagonist.
15. To cashier or discard. – Shak.
16. To lay aside, as unfit for use; to reject; as a garment. – Addison.
17. To make to preponderate; to throw into one scale, for the purpose of giving it superior weight; to decide by a vote that gives a superiority in numbers; as, to cast the balance in one's favor; a casting vote or voice.
18. To throw together several particulars, to find the sum; as, to cast accounts. Hence, to throw together circumstances and facts, to find the result; to compute; to reckon; to calculate; as, to cast the event of war. To cast and see how many things there are which a man can not do himself. – Bacon.
19. To contrive; to plan. – Temple.
20. To judge, or to consider, in order to judge. – Milton.
21. To fix, or distribute the parts of a play among the actors. – Addison.
22. To throw, as the sight; to direct, or turn, as the eye; to glance; as, to cast a look, or glance, or the eye.
23. To found; to form into a particular shape, by pouring liquid metal into a mold; to run; as, to cast cannon. Thou shalt cast four rings of gold for it. – Ex. xxv.
24. Figuratively, to shape; to form by a model. – Watts.
25. To communicate; to spread over; as, to cast a luster upon posterity: to cast splendor upon actions, or light upon a subject.
26. To assign the parts of a play to particular actors. To cast aside, to dismiss or reject as useless or inconvenient. To cast away, to reject. – Lev. xxvi. Is. v. Rom. xi. Also, to throw away; to lavish or waste by profusion; to turn to no use; as, to cast away life. – Addison. Also, to wreck, as a ship. To cast by, to reject; to dismiss or discard with neglect or hate, or as useless. – Shak. Locke. To cast down, to throw down; to deject or depress the mind. Why art thou cast down, O my soul? – Ps. xlii. To cast forth, to throw out, or reject, as from an inclosed place; to emit, or send abroad; to exhale. To cast off, to discard or reject; to drive away; to put off; to put away; to disburden. Among huntsmen, to leave behind, as dogs; to set loose, or free. Among seamen, to loose, or untie. To cast out, to send forth; to reject or turn out; to throw out, as words; to speak or give vent to. To cast up, to compute; to reckon; to calculate; as, to cast up accounts, or the cost. Also, to eject; to vomit. To cast on, to refer or resign to. – South. To cast one's self on, to resign or yield one's self to the disposal of, without reserve. To cast young, to miscarry; to suffer abortion. – Gen. xxxi. To cast in the teeth, to upbraid; to charge; to twit. So in Danish, “kaster en i næsen,” to cast in the nose.

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 throw, as a line in angling, esp, with a fly hook.
3. The act of casting or throwing] a throw.
4. To direct or turn, as the eyes.
   
   

   How earnestly he cast his eyes upon me!
   Shak.

5. To turn the head of a vessel around from the wind in getting under weigh.
   
   

   Weigh anchor, cast to starboard.
   Totten.

6. The thing thrown.
   
   

   A cast of dreadful dust.
   Dryden.

7. To drop; to deposit; as, to cast a ballot.
8. 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.

9. The distance to which a thing is or can be thrown.
   
   
   "About a stone's cast." Luke xxii. 41.
10. To throw down, as in wrestling.
    
    
    Shak.
11. To calculate; to compute.
    
    
    [R.]

    Who would cast and balance at a desk.
    Tennyson.

12. 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.

13. To throw up, as a mound, or rampart.
    
    

    Thine enemies shall cast a trench [bank] about thee.
    Luke xix. 48.

14. To receive form or shape in a mold.
    
    

    It will not run thin, so as to cast and mold.
    Woodward.

15. 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.
16. 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.

17. To warp; to become twisted out of shape.
    
    

    Stuff is said to cast or warp when . . . it alters its flatness or straightness.
    Moxon.

18. The act of casting in a mold.
    
    

    And why such daily cast of brazen cannon.
    Shak.

19. To bring forth prematurely; to slink.
    
    

    Thy she-goats have not cast their young.
    Gen. xxi. 38.

20. To vomit.
    
    

    These verses . . . make me ready to cast.
    B. Jonson.

21. An impression or mold, taken from a thing or person; amold; a pattern.
22. To throw out or emit; to exhale.
    
    
    [Obs.]

    This . . . casts a sulphureous smell.
    Woodward.

23. 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.
24. To cause to fall; to shed; to reflect; to throw; as, to cast a ray upon a screen; to cast light upon a subject.
25. Form; appearence; 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.
    Shak.

26. To impose; to bestow; to rest.
    
    

    The government I cast upon my brother.
    Shak.

    Cast thy burden upon the Lord.
    Ps. iv. 22.

27. A tendency to any color; a tinge; a shade.
    
    

    Gray with a cast of green.
    Woodward.

28. To dismiss; to discard; to cashier.
    
    
    [Obs.]

    The state can not with safety cast him.

29. 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.

30. To compute; to reckon; to calculate; as, to cast a horoscope.
    
    
    "Let it be cast and paid." Shak.

    You cast the event of war, my noble lord.
    Shak.

31. The assignment of parts in a play to the actors.
32. To contrive; to plan.
    
    
    [Archaic]

    The cloister . . . had, I doubt not, been cast for [an orange-house].
    Sir W. Temple.

33. 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.

34. 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.

35. A stoke, touch, or trick.
    
    
    [Obs.]

    This was a cast of Wood's politics; for his information was wholly false.
    Swift.

36. 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.

37. 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.

38. 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.
39. A tube or funnel for conveying metal into a mold.
40. To stereotype or electrotype.
41. Four; that is, as many as are thrown into a vessel at once in counting herrings, etc; a warp.
42. 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.

    To cast anchor (Naut.) See under Anchor. -- To cast a horoscope, to calculate it. -- To cast a horse, sheep, or other animal, 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." Shak. (c) To wreck. "Cast away and sunk." Shak. -- 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?" Ps. 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. (a) To discard or reject; to drive away; to put off; to free one's self from. (b) (Hunting) To leave behind, as dogs; also, to set loose, or free, as dogs. Crabb. (c) (Naut.) To untie, throw off, or let go, as a rope. -- To cast off copy, (Print.), 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 (Naut.), to sound by dropping the lead to the bottom. -- To cast the water (Med.), to examine the urine for signs of disease. [Obs.]. -- 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.

43. Contrivance; plot, design.
    
    
    [Obs.] Chaucer.

    A cast of the eye, a slight squint or strabismus. -- Renal cast (Med.), 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.