Word.ws English Dictionary

castling

UK/ˈkɑːstlɪŋ//ˈkæstlɪŋ/

castling noun: an abortion, or a premature birth. Also the present participle and gerund of castle.

Noun (1)

castling (plural castlings)

  1. (obsolete) An abortion, or a premature birth.
    • 1646: Wherein notwithstanding, we should rather rely upon the urine in a castling’s bladder — Sir Thomas Browne, Pseudodoxia Epidemica, Book II, ch 5
  2. (obsolete) The second or third swarm of bees which leaves a hive in a season.
  3. A miniature cast or mould.
    • From the Celeste's own image was the first castling molded. A soft, delicate creature of flesh and blood she would call Woman. So that Her castlings may never feel the loneliness she Herself did suffer, she bestowed woman with a mate [...]2009, Danielle Devon, Divinity in Chains - Page 6
  4. One that is cast.
    • […] ſhift for themselves, and ſeek out new habitations; ſuch caſtlings might in their waudring throughout the South Sea (moſt of the Oriental Iſlands being formerly inhabited by their Off-ſpring) fall with the coaſt of Peru, […]1678, Claude Saumaise, Funus linguae hellenisticae, pages 121–122

Noun (2)

UK/ˈkɑːsəlɪŋ/US/ˈkæsəlɪŋ/

castling (usually uncountable, plural castlings)

  1. (usually) A move in which the king moves two squares towards a rook, and the rook moves to the other side of the king; the action of the verb to castle.
    • Castling is prevented temporarily: […] If there is any piece between the king and the rook with which castling is to be effected.2022, “2023 Laws of Chess”, in FIDE, pages 7, 8
  2. (usually) The act of constructing a defense structure in Japanese chess in which the king (玉) is positioned in a certain way so that it is protected by pawns (歩) and silver general(s) (銀) and/or gold general(s) (金) often with an additional knight (桂) and lance (香車).

Proper noun capitalized: Castling

Castling

  1. A surname.

Also used as

castling is also the present participle and gerund of castle.

castling meaning in Urdu, Arabic, Persian and Vietnamese

castling in Urdu

move in chess
قِلْعَہ جانا qil'a jānā

castling in Arabic

move in chess
تَبْيِيت tabyīt

castling in Persian

move in chess
قلعه بستن qal'e bastan

castling in Vietnamese

move in chess
nhập thành

Forms of castling

pluralcastlings

Origin of castling

From cast + -ling.

From Middle English castellinge, equivalent to castle (verb) + -ing.

Phrases with castling

Questions about castling

What does castling mean?
Castling means an abortion, or a premature birth.
What is castling in Urdu?
Castling in Urdu is قِلْعَہ جانا (qil'a jānā). See Castling meaning in Urdu.
What part of speech is castling?
Castling can be a noun or a proper noun.
How do you pronounce castling?
Castling is pronounced /ˈkɑːstlɪŋ/ (UK).
What is the plural of castling?
The plural of castling is castlings.

Words near castling in the dictionary

  1. Castlewellan
  2. castlewise
  3. Castlewood
  4. castlewright
  5. castlewrights
  6. castling
  7. castling long
  8. castling short
  9. castlings
  10. castmate
  11. castmates

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: castling (page history and authors); Castling (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: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Persent101-castling.wav.

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