Word.ws English Dictionary

cast

UK/kɑːst/

More pronunciations (1)Fewer pronunciations

Northern England/kast/

cast verb: to move, or be moved, away. Also the obsolete form of caste.

cast: to move, or be moved, away
Image: Anna.psiaki, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

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.
    • Many savages believe that by annually casting their skins serpents and other animals renew their youth and live for ever.1918, James George Frazer, Folk-Lore In The Old Testament, volume 1, page 50
    1. (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[…].c. 1590–1591 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Two Gentlemen of Verona”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and...
      • The more, an' please your honour, the pity, said the Corporal; in uttering which, he cast his spade into the wheelbarrow[…].1759–1767, [Laurence Sterne], The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman, volume (please specify |volume=I to IX), London: […] T. Becket and P. A. Dehondt, […], page 262
    2. (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)[…].1526, [William Tyndale, transl.], The Newe Testamẽt […] (Tyndale Bible), [Worms, Germany: Peter Schöffer], →OCLC, Matthew iiij
    3. (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 […]1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book II, Canto XII”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC
      • it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell.1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Matthew 6:30
    4. (physical) To throw off (the skin) as a process of growth; to shed the hair or fur of the coat.
    5. (physical) To shed leaves or fruit prematurely.
    6. (physical, obsolete except in set phrases) 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[…].1822, “Life of Donald McBane”, in Blackwood's Magazine, volume 12, page 745
      • You know the saying, "Ne'er cast a clout till May is out"? Well, personally, I'm bored of my winter clothes by March.2002 March 2, Jess Cartner-Morley, “How to Wear Clothes”, in The Guardian
    7. (physical) To heave the lead and line in order to ascertain the depth of water.
    8. (obsolete, physical) To vomit.
      • These verses[…]make me ready to cast.1601, Ben Jonson, Poetaster or The Arraignment: […], London: […] [R. Bradock] for M[atthew] L[ownes] […], published 1602, →OCLC, Act I, scene i
    9. (archaic, physical) To throw up, as a mound, or rampart.
      • Thine enemies shall cast a trench [bank] about thee.1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Luke 19:48
      • 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.1881, John Kirby Hedges, The history of Wallingford, volume 1, page 170
    10. (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.
      • This horned bird, as it casts a strong smell, so it hath a foul look, much exceeding the European Raven in bigness1849, Philip Henry Gosse, Natural History
  2. To direct (one's eyes, gaze etc.).
    • To whom do Lyons cast their gentle Lookes? Not to the Beast, that would vsurpe their Den.c. 1591–1592 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Third Part of Henry the Sixt, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard...
    • She then yawned again, threw aside her book, and cast her eyes round the room in quest of some amusement[…].1813 January 27, [Jane Austen], chapter 11, in Pride and Prejudice: […], volume I, London: […] [George Sidney] for T[homas] Egerton, […], →OCLC
  3. (dated outside accounting) 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 storec. 1589–1590 (date written), Christopher Marlo[we], edited by Tho[mas] Heywood, The Famous Tragedy of the Rich Iew of Malta. […], London: […] I[ohn] B[eale] for Nicholas Vavasour, […], published...
    • The Clearke of Chartam: hee can write and / reade, and cast accompt.1591 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Second Part of Henry the Sixt, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies. […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and...
    Synonyms:
    sum, tally, add, add together, add up, count up, foot up, reckon up, sum up, summate
  4. (social) 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., vol.1, New York Review of Books, 2001, p.309
    • 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.1971, Keith Thomas, Religion and the Decline of Magic, Folio Society, published 2012, page 332
  5. (obsolete, social) 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."1485, Thomas Malory, Le Morte Darthur Book XIX, Chapter i leaf 386v
  6. (transitive, social) To assign (a role in a play or performance).
    • The director cast the part carefully.
  7. (transitive, social) To assign a role in a play or performance to (an actor).
    • The director cast John Smith as King Lear.
  8. (transitive, social) 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.
  9. (social) To consider; to turn or revolve in the mind; to plan.
    • to cast about for reasons
    • She[…]cast in her mind what manner of salutation this should be.1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Luke 1:29
  10. (archaic, social) To impose; to bestow; to rest.
    • The government I cast upon my brother.1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tempest”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published...
    • Cast thy burden upon the Lord.1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Psalms 4:22
  11. (archaic, social) To defeat in a lawsuit; to decide against; to convict.
    • to be cast in damages
    • She was cast to be hanged.1822, John Galt, The Provost
  12. (social) 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!
Show 12 more meaningsShow fewer meanings
  1. 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.1936, Rollo Ahmed, The Black Art, London: Long, page 178
    • While I could tell my little witch was growing stronger with each piece of loot, I got tired of casting fireball after fireball and looting gear with three more health.2025 February, Tyler Colp, “Reinstall: Path of Exile”, in PC Gamer (US), number 392, page 93
  2. 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.1950 April 24, “A Global View”, in Time
    • A sudden thought cast a gloom over his countenance.1960, Lawrence Durrell, Clea
  3. (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., Folio Society, 2006, vol.1, p.98
    • The abortion of a woman they describe by an horse kicking a wolf; because a mare will cast her foal if she tread in the track of that animal.1650, Thomas Browne, chapter V, in Pseudodoxia Epidemica: […], 2nd edition, London: […] A[braham] Miller, for Edw[ard] Dod and Nath[aniel] Ekins, […], →OCLC, 1st book, page 20
  4. 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.1923 March 24, “Rodin's Death”, in Time
    • 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.1944 November and December, A Former Pupil, “Some Memories of Crewe Works—II”, in Railway Magazine, page 343
    1. (dated) To stereotype or electrotype.
  5. To twist or warp (of fabric, timber etc.).
    • Stuff is said to cast or warp when[…]it alters its flatness or straightness.c. 1680, Joseph Moxon, The Art of Joinery
  6. 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.
  7. 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.
  8. 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.
  9. 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.1955, William Golding, The Inheritors, Faber and Faber, published 2005, page 50
  10. To set (a bone etc.) in a cast.
  11. To open a circle in order to begin a spell or meeting of witches.
  12. 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

cast (plural 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.1886, Peter Christen Asbjø￵rnsen, translated by H.L. Brækstad, Folk and Fairy Tales, page 152
  4. Something which has been thrown, dispersed etc.
    • a cast of scatter'd dust1697, Virgil, “The Fourth Book of the Georgics”, in John Dryden, transl., The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and Æneis. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC
  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.
    • The cast was praised for a fine performance.
  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 […]1596, Edmund Spenser, “Book VI, Canto VII”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC
    • Louis XIV was keen, employing a total hawking personnel of 175 and adding a fourth cast of gyrfalcons to hunt hares in 1682 […].2007, Tim Blanning, The Pursuit of Glory, Penguin, published 2013, page 395
  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.1847, John Churchill, A manual of the principles and practice of ophthalmic medicine and surgery, p. 389, paragraph 1968
    • 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...2011, Thomas Penn, Winter King, Penguin, published 2012, page 7
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  1. Visual appearance.
    • Her features had a delicate cast to them.
    • Using a tungsten-balanced film outdoors results in a blue cast to the photo.2004, Betsy Brill, Photojournalism: The Professional's Approach, page 240
  2. 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.1894, Wilson Lloyd Bevan, Sir William Petty : A Study in English Economic Literature, page 40
    • Young Wilcox’s rejoinder, which impressed my uncle enough to make him recall and record it verbatim, was of a fantastically poetic cast which must have typified his whole conversation, and which I have since found highly characteristic of him.1928 February, H[oward] P[hillips] Lovecraft, “The Call of Cthulhu”, in Farnsworth Wright, editor, Weird Tales: A Magazine of the Bizarre and Unusual, volume XI, number 2, Indianapolis, Ind.: Popular...
  3. Animal and insect remains which have been regurgitated by a bird.
  4. (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.2023, Sunil Santha, Climate Change, Small-Scale Fisheries, and Blue Justice: Fishscapes and Alternative Worldviews, Taylor and Francis
    • In the crevices of the rock wall that buttresses the pool, a cast of crabs go about their crab business.2023, Nadine J. Cohen, Everyone and Everything, Pantera Press
    1. (Norfolk, collective, historical) Two crabs.
      • Coordinate term: hundred
      • At Cromer and the neighbourhood the crabs are counted by a peculiar standard: thus, two crabs are counted as one. The two crabs being called a cast, six score cast of crabs is called a hundred. At Cromer, therefore, a hundred crabs is two hundred and forty.1876, “The Crab and Lobster Fisheries of Cromer”, in The Nautical Magazine, Cambridge University Press, page 197
  5. 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.”Savage Arms, "THE PERFECT SHOTGUN FIT," 2021
  6. A chance or attempt at something.
  7. (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, […]1852, Chambers' Edinburgh Journal, volumes 17-18, page 398
    • boatman, just give us a cast over to the other side of the water.1882, Sir James William Redhouse, The Turkish Vade-Mecum of Ottoman Colloquial Language, page 328

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.

Proper noun (1) capitalized: CAST

CAST

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

Proper noun (2) capitalized: Cast

Cast (plural Casts)

  1. A surname.

Also used as

cast is also the obsolete form of caste.

cast meaning in Kannada, Sanskrit, Arabic and Malay

cast in Kannada

casting procedure
ಎರಕ eraka

cast in Sanskrit

to throw forcefully
क्षिपति kṣipati

cast in Arabic

to throw forcefully
صَبَّ ṣabba, رَمَى ramā
medicine: supportive and immobilising device
ضِمَاد مِنَ الْجِبْس ḍimād mina l-jibs

cast in Malay

group of actors performing together
barisan pelakon
More languagesFewer languages
cast in Indonesian
gips
cast in Thai
หล่อ lɔ̀ɔ, เหวี่ยง wìiang, ทอด tɔ̂ɔt, เขวี้ยง kwîiang

Examples of cast in a sentence

  • Near Puerto Limon, Costa Rica, Madman, co-pilot and plane were caught in a storm, cast into the Caribbean, drowned.1930 December 19, “Sidar the Madman”, in Time:
  • But Richmond, his grandfather's darling, after one thoughtful glance cast under his lashes at that uncompromising countenance appeared to lose himself in his own reflections.1959, Georgette Heyer, chapter 1, in The Unknown Ajax:
  • I cannot yet cast account either with penne or Counters.1603, Michel de Montaigne, chapter 17, in John Florio, transl., The Essayes […], book II, London: […] Val[entine] Simmes for Edward Blount...
  • I cast up the notches on my post, and found I had been on shore three hundred and sixty-five days.1719 May 6 (Gregorian calendar), [Daniel Defoe], The Life and Strange Surprizing Adventures of Robinson Crusoe, […], London: […] W[illiam]...

All 40 example sentences with cast

Synonyms of cast

30 more synonymsFewer synonyms

All synonyms of cast

Forms of cast

Verb
third-person singular presentcasts
present participlecasting
past participlecast
pastcast
past participle (nonstandard)casted
past (nonstandard)casted
second-person singular present (archaic)castest
second-person singular past (archaic)castest
third-person singular present (archaic)casteth
Noun
pluralcasts
Proper noun
pluralCasts

Past tense of cast: cast

Plural of cast: casts

Origin of 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.

* 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”).

Words formed from cast

Phrases with cast

37 more phrasesFewer phrases

Words that rhyme with cast

4 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about cast

What does cast mean?
Cast means to move, or be moved, away.
What is cast in Kannada?
Cast in Kannada is ಎರಕ (eraka). See Cast meaning in Kannada.
How do you use cast in a sentence?
Near Puerto Limon, Costa Rica, Madman, co-pilot and plane were caught in a storm, cast into the Caribbean, drowned.
What part of speech is cast?
Cast can be a verb, a noun, an adjective or a proper noun.
How do you pronounce cast?
Cast is pronounced /kɑːst/ (UK).
What is the past tense of cast?
The past tense of cast is cast.

Words near cast in the dictionary

  1. Cassubians
  2. Cassumbazar
  3. cassumunar
  4. Cassville
  5. cassythine
  6. cast
  7. cast a chill
  8. cast a pall
  9. cast a shadow
  10. cast about
  11. cast accounts

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: cast (page history and authors); CAST (page history and authors); Cast (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-cast.ogg.

Cite this entry: “cast.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/cast. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.