from
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
Cast \Cast\, n. [Cf. Icel., Dan., & Sw. kast.]
1. The act of casting or throwing; a throw.
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2. The thing thrown.
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A cast of dreadful dust. --Dryden.
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3. The distance to which a thing is or can be thrown. "About
a stone's cast." --Luke xxii. 41.
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4. A throw of dice; hence, a chance or venture.
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An even cast whether the army should march this way
or that way. --Sowth.
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I have set my life upon a cast,
And I will stand the hazard of the die. --Shak.
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5. 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.
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6. The act of casting in a mold.
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And why such daily cast of brazen cannon. --Shak.
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7. An impression or mold, taken from a thing or person;
amold; a pattern.
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8. 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.
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9. Form; appearence; mien; air; style; as, a peculiar cast of
countenance. "A neat cast of verse." --Pope.
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An heroic poem, but in another cast and figure.
--Prior.
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And thus the native hue of resolution
Is sicklied o'er with the pale cast of thought.
--Shak.
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10. A tendency to any color; a tinge; a shade.
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Gray with a cast of green. --Woodward.
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11. A chance, opportunity, privilege, or advantage;
specifically, an opportunity of riding; a lift. [Scotch]
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We bargained with the driver to give us a cast to
the next stage. --Smollett.
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If we had the cast o' a cart to bring it. --Sir W.
Scott.
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12. The assignment of parts in a play to the actors.
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13. (Falconary) A flight or a couple or set of hawks let go
at one time from the hand. --Grabb.
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As when a cast of falcons make their flight.
--Spenser.
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14. A stoke, touch, or trick. [Obs.]
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This was a cast of Wood's politics; for his
information was wholly false. --Swift.
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15. A motion or turn, as of the eye; direction; look; glance;
squint.
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The cast of the eye is a gesture of aversion.
--Bacon.
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And let you see with one cast of an eye. --Addison.
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This freakish, elvish cast came into the child's
eye. --Hawthorne.
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16. A tube or funnel for conveying metal into a mold.
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17. Four; that is, as many as are thrown into a vessel at
once in counting herrings, etc; a warp.
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18. Contrivance; plot, design. [Obs.] --Chaucer.
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{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.
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