uncasting

Verb

uncast (third-person singular simple present uncasts, present participle uncasting, simple past and past participle uncast or (common, but sometimes proscribed) uncasted)

1. To detach (a rope, line, etc.).
   • […] the vessel, uncasting the hawser which had detained it, instantly left the ice […]1846, Francis Bond Head, chapter 12, in The Emigrant, London: John Murray, page 264
2. To bring back to a standing position (a horse or other large animal that is lying down with its legs under it).
   • At about one o’clock we finally put Araby in her stall, but she kept getting cast. She would roll over, hitting the side of the stall with her legs and was unable to get up. […] We had to uncast her every fifteen minutes from one A.M. until seven the next morning.1998, Joan Grady-Fitchett, Flying Lessons: On the Wings of Parkinson’s Disease, New York: Forge, Entry Thirty, p. 144
3. To reverse the effects of (a magical spell).
   • The while it is the fairies’ hour
     The fairies’ tricks are full of power.
     But when the hour is overpast
     By wisdom we their spells uncast.1920, Margaret Lynch Conger, “The Good Housewife and her Labors”, in Folk Story Plays for Children, New York: James A. McCann
4. To remove (an actor) from a role that was previously assigned to them.
   • ‘You CANNOT uncast me, Randy!’ hurtles from the prostrate patient.
   • ‘Keep calm. I’m not saying you’re gonna get uncast. It’s just that having shot yourself, the insurance people are gonna be problematic. But it’ll be sorted. Trust me.’1998, Richard E. Grant, “High Anxiety”, in By Design: A Hollywood Novel, London: Picador, page 125

See all 5 meanings of uncast

Verb

uncaste (third-person singular simple present uncastes, present participle uncasting, simple past and past participle uncasted)

1. (transitive) To free or remove from a caste system.
   • […] credulous sepoys were told that […] the Christians would […] uncaste the whole Hindu population and outrage all their traditions and feelings.1904, William Lee-Warner, Life of the Marquis of Dalhousie