Cast vs Cant - What's the difference?
cast | cant |
To move, or be moved, away.
#
#* c. 1430' (reprinted '''1888 ), Thomas Austin, ed., ''Two Fifteenth-century Cookery-books. Harleian ms. 279 (ab. 1430), & Harl. ms. 4016 (ab. 1450), with Extracts from Ashmole ms. 1429, Laud ms. 553, & Douce ms. 55 [Early English Text Society, Original Series; 91], London:
#*1623 , (William Shakespeare), (The Two Gentlemen of Verona) :
#*:Why then a Ladder quaintly made of Cords / To cast vp, with a paire of anchoring hookes, / Would serue to scale another Hero's towre.
#*1760 , (Laurence Sterne), , p.262:
#*:The more, an' please your honour, the pity, said the Corporal; in uttering which, he cast his spade into the wheelbarrow.
#To throw forward (a fishing line, net etc.) into the sea.
#*1526 , (Bible) , tr. (William Tyndale), (w) 4:
#*:As Jesus walked by the see off Galile, he sawe two brethren: Simon which was called Peter, and Andrew his brother, castynge a neet into the see (for they were fisshers).
#Specifically, to throw down or aside.
#*, II.xii:
#*:So she to Guyon offred it to tast; / Who taking it out of her tender hond, / The cup to ground did violently cast , / That all in peeces it was broken fond.
#*1611 , (Bible) , Authorized Version, (w) VI.30:
#*:it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell.
#*1930 , "Sidar the Madman", Time , 19 Dec.:
#*:Near Puerto Limon, Costa Rica, Madman, co-pilot and plane were caught in a storm, cast into the Caribbean, drowned.
#*2009 , (Hilary Mantel), (Wolf Hall) , Fourth Estate, 2010, p.316:
#*:Her bow is not to her liking. In a temper, she casts it on the grass.
#(label) To throw off (the skin) as a process of growth; to shed the hair or fur of the coat.
#
#*1822 , "Life of Donald McBane", (w, Blackwood's Magazine) , vol.12, p.745:
#*:when the serjeant saw me, he cast his coat and put it on me, and they carried me on their shoulders to a village where the wounded were and our surgeons.
#*2002 , Jess Cartner-Morley, "How to Wear Clothes", The Guardian , 2 March:
#*:You know the saying, "Ne'er cast a clout till May is out"? Well, personally, I'm bored of my winter clothes by March.
#(label) To heave the lead and line in order to ascertain the depth of water.
#(label) To vomit.
#*(Ben Jonson) (1572-1637)
#*:These versesmake me ready to cast .
#(label) To throw up, as a mound, or rampart.
#*(Bible), (w) xix.48
#*:Thine enemies shall cast a trench [bank] about thee.
#(label) To throw out or emit; to exhale.
#* (1665-1728)
#*:Thiscasts a sulphureous smell.
To direct (one's eyes, gaze etc.).
*1595 , (William Shakespeare), :
*:To whom do Lyons cast their gentle Lookes? Not to the Beast, that would vsurpe their Den.
*1813 , (Jane Austen), (Pride and Prejudice) , I.11:
*:She then yawned again, threw aside her book, and cast her eyes round the room in quest of some amusement.
*{{quote-book, year=1959, author=(Georgette Heyer), title=(The Unknown Ajax), chapter=1
, passage=But Richmond, his grandfather's darling, after one thoughtful glance cast under his lashes at that uncompromising countenance appeared to lose himself in his own reflections.}}
To add up (a column of figures, accounts etc.); cross-cast refers to adding up a row of figures.
*1594 , (William Shakespeare), :
*:The Clearke of Chartam: hee can write and / reade, and cast accompt.
*, II.17:
*:I cannot yet cast account either with penne or Counters.
*1719 , (Daniel Defoe), (Robinson Crusoe)
*:I cast up the notches on my post, and found I had been on shore three hundred and sixty-five days.
To predict, to decide, to plan.
#(label) To calculate the astrological value of (a horoscope, birth etc.).
#*, vol.1, New York Review of Books, 2001, p.309:
#*:he isa perfect astrologer, that can cast the rise and fall of others, and mark their errant motions to his own use.
#*1971 , , Religion and the Decline of Magic , Folio Society, 2012, p.332:
#*:John Gadbury confessed that Mrs Cellier, ‘the Popish Midwife’, had asked him to cast the King's nativity, although the astrology claimed to have refused to do so.
#*1985 , (Lawrence Durrell), (Quinx) , Faber & Faber 2004 (Avignon Quintet), p.1197:
#*:He did the washing up and stayed behind to watch the dinner cook while she hopped off with a friend to have her horoscope cast by another friend.
#(label) To plan, intend.
#*, Book VII.2:
#*:"Fayre damesell, I thanke you hartely," seyde Sir Launcelot, "but truly," seyde he, "I caste me never to be wedded man."
#*1590 , (Edmund Spenser), (The Faerie Queene) , II.i:
#*:I wrapt my selfe in Palmers weed, / And cast to seeke him forth through daunger and great dreed.
#* (1628–1699)
#*:The cloisterhad, I doubt not, been cast for [an orange-house].
#(label) To assign (a role in a play or performance).
#:
#(label) To assign a role in a play or performance to (an actor).
#:
#To consider; to turn or revolve in the mind; to plan.
#:
#*(Bible), (w) i.29
#*:Shecast in her mind what manner of salutation this should be.
#(label) To impose; to bestow; to rest.
#*(William Shakespeare) (1564-1616)
#*:The government I cast upon my brother.
#*(Bible), (Psalms) iv. 22
#*:Cast thy burden upon the Lord.
#(label) To defeat in a lawsuit; to decide against; to convict.
#:
#* (1773-1850)
#*:She was cast to be hanged.
#*Dr. (Henry More) (1614-1687)
#*:Were the case referred to any competent judge, they would inevitably be cast .
#To turn (the balance or scale); to overbalance; hence, to make preponderate; to decide.
#:
#*(Robert South) (1634–1716)
#*:How much interest casts the balance in cases dubious!
To perform, bring forth (a magical spell or enchantment).
To throw (light etc.) on or upon something, or in a given direction.
*1950 , "A Global View", Time , 24 April:
*:The threat of Russian barbarism sweeping over the free world will cast its ominous shadow over us for many, many years.
*1960 , (Lawrence Durrell), :
*:A sudden thought cast a gloom over his countenance.
(label) To give birth to (a child) prematurely; to miscarry.
*, Folio Society, 2006, vol.1, p.98:
*:being with childe, they may without feare of accusation, spoyle and cast their children, with certaine medicaments, which they have only for that purpose.
*1646 , Sir (Thomas Browne), (Pseudodoxia Epidemica) , V.20:
*:The abortion of a woman they describe by an horse kicking a wolf; because a mare will cast her foal if she tread in the track of that animal.
To shape (molten metal etc.) by pouring into a mould; to make (an object) in such a way.
*1923 , "Rodin's Death", Time , 24 March:
*:One copy of the magnificent caveman, The Thinker, of which Rodin cast several examples in bronze, is seated now in front of the Detroit Museum of Art, where it was placed last autumn.
# To stereotype or electrotype.
To twist or warp (of fabric, timber etc.).
*(Joseph Moxon) (1627-1691)
*:Stuff is said to cast or warp whenit alters its flatness or straightness.
(label) To bring the bows of a sailing ship on to the required tack just as the anchor is weighed by use of the headsail; to bring (a ship) round.
To deposit (a ballot or voting paper); to formally register (one's vote).
(label) To change a variable type from, for example, integer to real, or integer to text.
:
(label) Of dogs, hunters: to spread out and search for a scent.
*1955 , (William Golding), , Faber and Faber, 2005, p.50:
*:He clambered on to an apron of rock that held its area out to the sun and began to cast across it. The direction of the wind changed and the scent touched him again.
(label) To set (a bone etc.) in a cast.
(some are still missing examples)
(label) To open a circle in order to begin a spell or meeting of witches.
An act of throwing.
Something which has been thrown, dispersed etc.
* Dryden
A small mass of earth "thrown off" or excreted by a worm.
The collective group of actors performing a play or production together. Contrasted with crew.
The casting procedure.
An object made in a mould.
A supportive and immobilising device used to help mend broken bones.
The mould used to make cast objects
(hawking) The number of hawks (or occasionally other birds) cast off at one time; a pair.
* 1596 , (Edmund Spenser), The Faerie Queene , VI.7:
A squint.
* 1847 , John Churchill, A manual of the principles and practice of ophthalmic medicine and surgery , p. 389,
* 2011 , Thomas Penn, Winter King , Penguin 2012, p. 7:
Visual appearance.
*
*
The form of one's thoughts, mind etc.
* 1992 , (Hilary Mantel), A Place of Greater Safety , Harper Perennial 2007, p. 330:
An animal, especially a horse, that is unable to rise without assistance.
Animal and insect remains which have been regurgitated by a bird.
A group of crabs.
(countable) An argot, the jargon of a particular class or subgroup.
* 1836 , Three discourses preached before the Congregational Society in Watertown,
(countable, uncountable) A private or secret language used by a religious sect, gang, or other group.
Shelta.
(uncountable, pejorative) Empty, hypocritical talk.
* 1749 , , Book IV ch iv
* 1759-1770 ,
(uncountable) Whining speech, such as that used by beggars.
(countable, heraldry) A blazon of a coat of arms that makes a pun upon the name of the bearer, canting arms.
(obsolete) A call for bidders at a public fair; an auction.
* Jonathan Swift
To speak with the jargon of a class or subgroup.
* Ben Jonson
* Bishop Sanderson
To speak in set phrases.
To preach in a singsong fashion, especially in a false or empty manner.
* Beaumont and Fletcher
(heraldry) Of a blazon, to make a pun that references the bearer of a coat of arms.
(obsolete) To sell by auction, or bid at an auction.
(obsolete) corner, niche
* Ben Jonson
slope, the angle at which something is set.
*
An outer or external angle.
An inclination from a horizontal or vertical line; a slope or bevel; a tilt.
A movement or throw that overturns something.
* 1830 , The Edinburgh Encyclopedia, volume 3,
A sudden thrust, push, kick, or other impulse, producing a bias or change of direction; also, the bias or turn so give.
(coopering) A segment forming a side piece in the head of a cask.
A segment of the rim of a wooden cogwheel.
(nautical) A piece of wood laid upon the deck of a vessel to support the bulkheads.
To set (something) at an angle.
To give a sudden turn or new direction to.
To bevel an edge or corner.
To overturn so that the contents are emptied.
(British, dialect) lively, lusty.
In nautical terms the difference between cast and cant
is that cast is to bring the bows of a sailing ship on to the required tack just as the anchor is weighed by use of the headsail; to bring (a ship) round while cant is a piece of wood laid upon the deck of a vessel to support the bulkheads.In obsolete terms the difference between cast and cant
is that cast is to plan, intend while cant is corner, niche.In transitive terms the difference between cast and cant
is that cast is to assign a role in a play or performance to (an actor) while cant is to divide or parcel out.As verbs the difference between cast and cant
is that cast is To move, or be moved, away.cant is to speak with the jargon of a class or subgroup.As nouns the difference between cast and cant
is that cast is an act of throwing while cant is an argot, the jargon of a particular class or subgroup.As an adjective cant is
lively, lusty.cast
English
Verb
374760, page 11:
- Soupes dorye. — Take gode almaunde mylke
Derived terms
* cast away * cast iron * cast off * cast on * castable * casting call * casting couch * casting director * cast the first stone * continuous casting * cross-cast * ne'er cast a clout til May be out * the die is castNoun
(en noun)- a cast of dreadful dust
- The area near the stream was covered with little bubbly worm casts .''
- He’s in the cast of Oliver.
- The cast was praised for a fine performance.
- The men got into position for the cast , two at the ladle, two with long rods, all with heavy clothing.
- The cast would need a great deal of machining to become a recognizable finished part.
- The doctor put a cast on the boy’s broken arm.
- A plaster cast was made of his face .
- As when a cast of Faulcons make their flight / An an Herneshaw, that lyes aloft on wing […].
paragraph 1968:
- The image of the affected eye is clearer and in consequence the diplopy more striking the less the cast of the eye; hence the double vision will be noticed by the patient before the misdirection of the eye attracts the attention of those about him.
- Arriving in Brittany, the Woodville exiles found a sallow young man, with dark hair curled in the shoulder-length fashion of the time and a penchant for expensively dyed black clothes, whose steady gaze was made more disconcerting by a cast in his left eye – such that while one eye looked at you, the other searched for you.
- Her features had a delicate cast to them.
- I have read all her articles and come to admire both her elegant turn of phrase and the noble cast of mind which inspires it; but never, I confess, did I look to see beauty and wit so perfectly united.
Statistics
*cant
English
Etymology 1
From (etyl) , cognate with chant.Noun
(en-noun)- He had the look of a prince, but the cant of a fishmonger.
page 65
- I am aware that the phrase free inquiry has become too much a cant phrase soiled by the handling of the ignorant and the reckless by those who fall into the mistake of supposing that religion has its root in the understanding and by those who can see just far enough to doubt and no further.
- People claim to care about the poor of Africa, but it is largely cant .
- He is too well grounded for all your philosophical cant to hurt.
- Of all the cants' which are canted in this canting world — though the '''cant''' of hypocrites may be the worst — the ' cant of criticism is the most tormenting!
- To sell their leases by cant .
Synonyms
* (private or secret language) argot, jargon, slang * (musical singing) chant, singsongVerb
(en verb)- The doctor here, / When he discourseth of dissection, / Of vena cava and of vena porta, / The meseraeum and the mesentericum, / What does he else but cant ?
- that uncouth affected garb of speech, or canting language, if I may so call it
- the rankest rogue that ever canted
- (Jonathan Swift)
Etymology 2
Noun
(en noun)- The first and principal person in the temple was Irene, or Peace; she was placed aloft in a cant .
- Owing to the cant of the vessel, the masts hung far out over the water, and from my perch on the cross-trees I had nothing below me but the surface of the bay.
- (Totten)
page 621
- It is not only of great service in keeping the boat in her due position on the sea, but also in creating a tendency immediately to recover from any sudden cant , or lurch, from a heavy wave; and it is besides beneficial in diminishing the violence of beating against the sides of the vessel which she may go to relieve.
- to give a ball a cant
- (Knight)
- (Knight)
Verb
(en verb)- to cant''' a cask; to '''cant a ship
- to cant''' round a stick of timber; to '''cant a football