Emily Dickinson Lexicon

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.