Emily Dickinson Lexicon

CAST, n.

1. The act of casting; a throw; the thing thrown; the form or state of throwing; kind or manner of throwing.
2. The distance passed by a thing thrown; or the space through which a thing thrown may ordinarily pass; as, about a stone's cast. Luke xxii.
3. A stroke; a touch. This was a cast of Wood's politics. Swift.
4. Motion or turn of the eye; direction, look or glance; a squinting. They let you see by one cast of the eye. Addison.
5. A throw of dice; hence, a state of chance or hazard. It is an even cast, whether the army should march this way or that way. South. Hence the phrase, the last cast, is used to denote that all is ventured on one throw, or one effort.
6. Form; shape. A heroic poem in another cast. Prior.
7. A tinge; a slight coloring, or slight degree of a color; as, a cast of green. Hence, a slight alteration in external appearance, or deviation from natural appearance. The native hue of resolution Is sicklied o'er with the pale cast of thought Shak.
8. Manner; air; mien; as, a peculiar cast of countenance. This sense implies, the turn or manner of throwing; as the neat cast of verse. Pope.
9. A flight; a number of hawks let go at once. Sidney.
10. A small statue of bronze, plaster, &c. Encyc.
11. Among founders, a tube of wax, fitted into a mold, to give shape to metal.
12. A cylindrical piece of brass or copper, slit in two lengthwise, to form a canal or conduit, in a mold, for conveying metal.
13. Among plumbers, a little brazen funnel, at one end of a mold, for casting pipes without sodering, by means of which the melted metal is poured into the mold. Encyc.
14. Whatever is cast in a mold.
15. [Sp. and Port. casta.] A breed, race, lineage, kind, sort.
16. An assignment of the parts of a play to the several actors.
17. A trick. Martin.

CAST, v.i.

1. To throw forward, as the thoughts, with a view to some determination; or to turn or revolve in the mind; to contrive; sometimes followed by about. I cast in careful mind to seek her out. Spenser. To cast about how to perform or obtain. Bacon. Bentley.
2. To receive form or shape. Metal will cast and mold. Woodward.
3. To warp; to twist from regular shape. Stuff is said to cast or warp, when it alters its flatness or straightness. Moxon. Note. Cast, like throw and warp, implies a winding motion.
4. In seamen's language, to fall off, or incline, so as to bring the side of a ship to the wind; applied particularly to a ship riding with her head to the wind, when her anchor is first loosened.

CAST, v.t. [pret. and pp. cast. Dan. kaster; Sw. kasta, Qu. Arm. caçz, pp. caçzet, to send, to throw. See Class Gs, No. 1, 56. In Dan. et blind kast, is a guess, and to cast is the radical sense of guess. In Norman, gistes signifies cast up, and this seems to be the participle of gesir, to lie down; to lie down may be to throw one's self down. This verb coincides in sense with the W. cothi, to throw off. See Castle.]

1. To throw, fling or send; that is, to drive from, by force, as from the hand, or from an engine. Hagar cast the child under a shrub. Gen. xxi. Uzziah prepared slings to cast stones. 2 Ch. xxvi.
2. To sow; to scatter seed. If a man should cast seed into the ground. Mark iv.
3. To drive or impel by violence. A mighty west wind cast the locusts into the sea. Ex. x.
4. To shed or throw off; as, trees cast their fruit; a serpent casts his skin.
5. To throw or let fall; as, to cast anchor. Hence, to cast anchor is to moor, as a ship, the effect of casting the anchor.
6. To throw, as dice or lots; as, to cast lots.
7. To throw on the ground, as in wrestling. Shak.
8. To throw away, as worthless. His carcass was cast in the way. 1 Kings xiii.
9. To emit or throw out. This casts a sulphureous smell. Woodward.
10. To throw, to extend, as a trench or rampart, including the sense of digging, raising, or forming. Thy enemies shall cast a trench about thee. Luke xix.
11. To thrust; as, to cast into prison.
12. To put, or set, in a particular state. Both chariot and horse are cast into a dead sleep. Ps. lxxvi.
13. To condemn; to convict; as a criminal. Both tried, and both were cast. Dryden.
14. To overcome in a civil suit, or in any contest of strength or skill; as, to cast the defendant or an antagonist.
15. To cashier or discard. Shak.
16. To lay aside, as unfit for use; to reject; as a garment. Addison.
17. To make to preponderate; to throw into one scale, for the purpose of giving it superior weight; to decide by a vote that gives a superiority in numbers; as, to cast the balance in one's favor; a casting vote or voice.
18. To throw together several particulars, to find the sum; as, to cast accounts. Hence, to throw together circumstances and facts, to find the result; to compute; to reckon; to calculate; as, to cast the event of war. To cast and see how many things there are which a man can not do himself. Bacon.
19. To contrive; to plan. Temple.
20. To judge, or to consider, in order to judge. Milton.
21. To fix, or distribute the parts of a play among the actors. Addison.
22. To throw, as the sight; to direct, or turn, as the eye; to glance; as, to cast a look, or glance, or the eye.
23. To found; to form into a particular shape, by pouring liquid metal into a mold; to run; as, to cast cannon. Thou shalt cast four rings of gold for it. Ex. xxv.
24. Figuratively, to shape; to form by a model. Watts.
25. To communicate; to spread over; as, to cast a luster upon posterity: to cast splendor upon actions, or light upon a subject.
26. To assign the parts of a play to particular actors. To cast aside, to dismiss or reject as useless or inconvenient. To cast away, to reject. Lev. xxvi. Is. v. Rom. xi. Also, to throw away; to lavish or waste by profusion; to turn to no use; as, to cast away life. Addison. Also, to wreck, as a ship. To cast by, to reject; to dismiss or discard with neglect or hate, or as useless. Shak. Locke. To cast down, to throw down; to deject or depress the mind. Why art thou cast down, O my soul? Ps. xlii. To cast forth, to throw out, or reject, as from an inclosed place; to emit, or send abroad; to exhale. To cast off, to discard or reject; to drive away; to put off; to put away; to disburden. Among huntsmen, to leave behind, as dogs; to set loose, or free. Among seamen, to loose, or untie. To cast out, to send forth; to reject or turn out; to throw out, as words; to speak or give vent to. To cast up, to compute; to reckon; to calculate; as, to cast up accounts, or the cost. Also, to eject; to vomit. To cast on, to refer or resign to. South. To cast one's self on, to resign or yield one's self to the disposal of, without reserve. To cast young, to miscarry; to suffer abortion. Gen. xxxi. To cast in the teeth, to upbraid; to charge; to twit. So in Danish, “kaster en i næsen,” to cast in the nose.

CAS-TA'LI-AN, a.

Pertaining to Castalia, a cool spring on Parnassus, sacred to the muses; as, Castalian fount. Poetry.

CAST'A-NET, n. [Sp. castañeta, castañuela; Port. castanheta; Fr. castagnette; It. castaguetta. This word seems to be from castaña, a chestnut, so named from the resemblance to two chesnuts.]

An instrument composed of small concave shells of ivory or hard wood, shaped like spoons, placed together, fastened to the thumb, and beat with the middle finger. This instrument is used by the Spaniards, Moors and Bohemians, as an accompaniment to their dances, sarabands and guitars. Span. Dict. Encyc.

CAST'A-WAY, a.

Rejected; useless; of no value. Ralegh.

CAST'A-WAY, n. [cast and away.]

That which is thrown away. A person abandoned by God, as unworthy of his favor; a reprobate. 1 Cor. ix. 27.

CASTE, n.

In Hindoostan, a tribe or class of the same rank or profession; as, the caste of bramins, or priests; of rajahs, or princes; of choutres, or artificers; and of parias, or poor people. Or according to some writers, of bramins; of cuttery, or soldiers; of shuddery, or merchants; and of wyse, or mechanics. Encyc. The four castes of the Hindoos are the Bramins or sacred order; the Chehteree or soldiers and rulers; the Bice, Vaissya, or husbandmen and merchants; and the Sooders, Sudras, or laborers and mechanics. Cyc. Ed. Encyc.

CAST'ED, pp.

for cast, in not in use.

CAS'TEL-LAN, n. [Sp. castellan; Fr. chatelain. See Castle.]

A governor or constable of a castle. In Poland, the name of a dignity or charge; a kind of lieutenant of a province, commanding part of a palatinate under a palatine. The castellans are senators, of the lower class, sitting, in the diets, on low seats behind the palatines. Encyc.

CAS'TEL-LANY, n. [See Castle.]

The lordship belonging to a castle; or the extent of its land and jurisdiction. Philips.

CAS'TEL-LA-TED, a.

1. Inclosed in a building, as a fountain or cistern. Johnson.
2. Adorned with turrets, and battlements, like a castle.

CAS-TEL-LA'TION, n.

The act of fortifying a house and rendering it a castle.

CAST'ER, n. [from cast.]

1. One who throws or casts; one who computes; a calculator; one who calculates fortunes. Addison.
2. A small phial or vessel for the table; as, a set of casters.
3. A small wheel on a swivel, on which furniture is cast, or rolled, on the floor, in any direction.
4. One who makes castings; a founder.

CAST'ERS, n.

A frame for holding bottles.

CAS'TI-GATE, v.t. [L. castigo, from castus, chaste. Qu. Eth. ገሠጸ gasts, to chasten, correct, chide. The French use châtier, from castus, chaste; Arm. castiza; Sp. and Port. castigar; It. castigare.]

To chastise; to punish by stripes; to correct; to chasten; to check. Shak.

CAS'TI-GA-TED, pp.

Punished; corrected.

CAS'TI-GA-TING, ppr.

Punishing; correcting; chastising.

CAS-TI-GA'TION, n.

1. Punishment; correction; penance; discipline; emendation; restraint. Boyle. Hale.
2. Among the Romans, a military punishment inflicted on offenders, by beating with a wand or switch. Encyc.

CAS'TI-GA-TOR, n.

One who corrects.

CAS'TI-GA-TO-RY, a.

Tending to correction; corrective; punitive. Bramhall.

CAS'TI-GA-TO-RY, n.

An engine formerly used to punish and correct arrant scolds, called also a ducking-stool, or trebucket. Blackstone.

CAS'TILE-SOAP, n.

A kind of pure, refined soap.

CAS-TIL'IAN, a.

Pertaining to Castile, in Spain.

CAS-TIL'IAN, n.

An inhabitant or native of Castile, in Spain.