What does cast mean?

What does cast mean?. The world's largest and most trusted free online dictionary: definitions, synonyms, word origins, example sentences, word games, and more.

What does cast mean? - The Free Dictionary

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[n] the actors in a play[v] put or send forth(She threw the flashlight beam into the corner The setting sun threw long shadows cast a spell cast a warm light)[n] container into which liquid is poured to create a given shape when it hardens[v] deposit(cast a vote cast a ballot)[n] the disti

cast

cast - The Free Dictionary

[n] the actors in a play

[v] put or send forth
(She threw the flashlight beam into the corner The setting sun threw long shadows cast a spell cast a warm light)

[n] container into which liquid is poured to create a given shape when it hardens

[v] deposit
(cast a vote cast a ballot)

[n] the distinctive form in which a thing is made
(pottery of this cast was found throughout the region)

[v] select to play,sing, or dance a part in a play, movie, musical, opera, or ballet
(He cast a young woman in the role of Desdemona)

[n] the visual appearance of something or someone
(the delicate cast of his features)

[v] throw forcefully

[n] bandage consisting of a firm covering (often made of plaster of Paris) that immobilizes broken bones while they heal

[v] assign the roles of (a movie or a play) to actors
(Who cast this beautiful movie?)

[n] object formed by a mold

[v] move about aimlessly or without any destination, often in search of food or employment
(The gypsies roamed the woods roving vagabonds the wandering Jew The cattle roam across the prairie the laborers drift from one town to the next They rolled from town to town)

[n] the act of throwing dice

[v] form by pouring (e.g., wax or hot metal) into a cast or mold
(cast a bronze sculpture)

[n] the act of throwing a fishing line out over the water by means of a rod and reel

[v] get rid of
(he shed his image as a pushy boss shed your clothes)

[n] a violent throw

[v] choose at random
(draw a card cast lots)

[v] formulate in a particular style or language
(I wouldn't put it that way She cast her request in very polite language)

[v] eject the contents of the stomach through the mouth
(After drinking too much, the students vomited He purged continuously The patient regurgitated the food we gave him last night)

Other vocabulary

c, c and w, c battery, c clef, c compiler, c horizon, c major, c major scale, c program, c-clamp, c-horizon, c-note, c-ration, c-reactive protein, c-section, c. d. gibson, c. diphtheriae, c. h. best, c. k. ogden, c. northcote parkinson, c. p. snow, c. psittaci, c. s. forester, c. s. lewis, c. trachomatis, c. vann woodward, c. w. post, c.e., c.o.d., c.p.u., a, a battery, a bit, a capella singing, a cappella, a cappella singing, a couple of, a few, a fortiori, a good deal, a great deal, a horizon, a hundred times, a kempis, a la carte, a la mode, a level, a little, a lot, a million times, a posteriori, a priori, a trifle, a'man, a-bomb, a-horizon, a-line, a-list, a-ok, a-okay

Dictionary

A dictionary is a listing of lexemes from the lexicon of one or more specific languages, often arranged alphabetically (or by consonantal root for Semitic languages or radical and stroke for ideographic languages), which may include information on definitions, usage, etymologies, pronunciations, translation, etc. It is a lexicographical reference that shows inter-relationships among the data.

A broad distinction is made between general and specialized dictionaries. Specialized dictionaries include words in specialist fields, rather than a complete range of words in the language. Lexical items that describe concepts in specific fields are usually called terms instead of words, although there is no consensus whether lexicology and terminology are two different fields of study. In theory, general dictionaries are supposed[citation needed] to be semasiological, mapping word to definition, while specialized dictionaries are supposed to be onomasiological, first identifying concepts and then establishing the terms used to designate them. In practice, the two approaches are used for both types. There are other types of dictionaries that do not fit neatly into the above distinction, for instance bilingual (translation) dictionaries, dictionaries of synonyms (thesauri), and rhyming dictionaries. The word dictionary (unqualified) is usually understood to refer to a general purpose monolingual dictionary.

There is also a contrast between prescriptive or descriptive dictionaries; the former reflect what is seen as correct use of the language while the latter reflect recorded actual use. Stylistic indications (e.g. "informal" or "vulgar") in many modern dictionaries are also considered by some to be less than objectively descriptive.

The first recorded dictionaries date back to Sumerian times around 2300 BCE, in the form of bilingual dictionaries, and the oldest surviving monolingual dictionaries are Chinese dictionaries c. 3rd century BCE. The first purely English alphabetical dictionary was A Table Alphabeticall, written in 1604, and monolingual dictionaries in other languages also began appearing in Europe at around this time. The systematic study of dictionaries as objects of scientific interest arose as a 20th-century enterprise, called lexicography, and largely initiated by Ladislav Zgusta. The birth of the new discipline was not without controversy, with the practical dictionary-makers being sometimes accused by others of having an "astonishing" lack of method and critical-self reflection.