Definition of: cast

(kast, käst) v. cast, cast·ing v.t.
1. To throw with force; drive by force, as from the hand or from an engine; fling; hurl.
2. To place as if by throwing; put with violence or force, as by the sea or wind: The waves cast us on the beach.
3. To throw up, as with a shovel: to cast a mound of earth.
4. To throw down; defeat; especially with the feet upward: He cast his enemy to the ground.
5. To deposit; give: He cast his vote.
6. To draw by chance; throw, as dice.
7. To cause to fall upon or over; throw in a particular direction; emit: cast a shadow.
8. To throw out or forth; get rid of.
9. To let down; put out; let drop: to cast anchor.
10. To abandon or shed, as in the process of growth; molt.
11. To give birth to, especially prematurely; drop: The mare cast her foal.
12. Metall. To shape in a mold; make a cast of; found.
13. To stereotype or electroplate.
14. To assign roles, as in a play; to assign to a part.
15. To add; total, as a column of figures.
16. To calculate mathematically: He cast his horoscope.
17. Law To defeat in a suit.
18. To winnow, as grain, by throwing in the air.
19. To reject; discard; disqualify: to cast horses for bad temper.
20. In falconry, to place upon the perch.
21. Naut. To turn, as a ship, to another course.
—v.i.
22. To revolve something in the mind; scheme; consider: to cast about for a solution.
23. To anticipate; forecast; conjecture.
24. Metall. To take shape in a mold, as metal.
25. To add up a column of figures; make a computation: with up.
26. To throw a fish line.
27. Naut. To turn from the wind; fall off, as in getting under way; to tack; put about.
28. To warp, as timber.
29. In hunting, to make a detour or run, as a dog, in search of a lost scent or trail.
30. To swarm, as bees.
—to cast about
1. To consider ways and means; scheme.
2. To warp; tack.
—to cast away To discard; reject.
—to cast down
1. To overthrow; destroy.
2. To cause to feel dejection; discourage; depress.
—to cast off
1. To reject or discard.
2. To let go, as a ship from a dock.
—noun
1. The act of throwing or casting: a cast of a fly in angling.
2. A throw of dice; also, the number or total thrown.
3. The distance to which a thing may be thrown: a stone's cast.
4. Anything that is thrown out or off, as an insect's skin, the dung of an earthworm, the undigested matter ejected from the stomach of an owl or hawk.
5. In angling, a leader, sometimes including the flies.
6. An object founded or run in or as in a mold, as of metal, plaster, wax, etc.
7. Pathol. A morbid substance molded as in one of the urinary tubules: a renal cast.
8. A stereotype or electrotype plate.
9. A reverse copy, in plaster of Paris or similar material, of a mold: usually distinguished from a casting, which is of iron or other metal or alloy.
10. The material run into molds at one operation.
11. An impression as of a harder in a softer body: a cast of a man's face.
12. An impressed form of the inner surface of an animal or plant, either of the bony outline or particularly of the organs of an animal: distinguished from mold.
13. A characteristic formation or inclination; also, stamp; type; kind; sort.
14. Shade; dash; tinge: white, with a bluish cast.
15. A twist or perversion; warp; squint.
16. The distribution of parts to performers in a play; also, the performers collectively.
17. In hunting, a detour in search of the scent.
18. A stroke or turn: a cast of one's skill.
19. A pair of hawks or other birds.
20. A course or change in a course.
21. A forecast or conjecture.
22. A contrivance; scheme.
23. A look; turning of a glance in a certain direction. ◆ Homophone: caste. [<ON kasta throw]